Leo

Leo's mind was going through a complete shut down. He wanted to scream out of frustration and to be honest he had already done that thrice. But nothing seemed to help. Annabeth had been gone for one complete day. One freaking complete day! And whose fault was it? Of course it was Leo's! He had known the day he had found those awesome blueprints in his school garage or lab, as people called it, that it would lead to something big. And now... it had led to a big disaster. Annabeth's younger sister Vera had already made a trip to the school to see if she was there and Leo was sure that by now her parents were thinking of going to the police. Leo was sure that they wouldn't be able to trace this back to him but that didn't change the fact that Annabeth was gone and was probably dead because of him.

It was like one minute she was there and the other minute woosh! Gone! The worst part was that Leo had no idea in which year Annabeth had landed. The retched machine had gone completely blank after that. He couldn't ask anybody for help because well... who could help him fix a time machine?

And the repair work was painstakingly slow. It would take him at least a month to get the machine ready and running. He hoped and prayed with all his heart that at least for one month... Annabeth would stay intact... just for one month.

Annabeth

Annabeth had dreamed of going to the Garden of Eden when she had heard of it. She had always wondered what it would have looked like. Now she knew. It would have exactly looked like the second squadron of the Kytian rebels. The fresh green land was dissected by narrow canals of crystal clear water every now and then. There were huge healthy tree which were over healthily lush and green. There were small lit tents and houses spread over the land of at least fifty hectares. And beyond the land all the small streams ended up in a lake through a great noisy fall. The lake was adorned by two islands. One a tiny one which was a few meters away from the shore and the other one was bigger but was a good two or three kilometers away. And the people there were amazing. Annabeth took them all in as Percy led her inside the giant doors, Tyson at their heels.

It was a good day for the people of the second squadron. Small kids were buys hand picking fishes from the streams or just randomly playing around. The smell of freshly baked bread and overwhelmed the smell of the nearby lake. Annabeth felt like she had entered a huge valley and sure enough the place was surrounded by a ring of shallow hills. All the shops and the lively lights and the curious and occasionally hostile stares of the people around unsettled her a bit but she was too lost in the beauty of that place to react.

Percy led Annabeth through an alley which sold sea shells of different shapes and sizes. The dolls made out of them were indeed beautiful and Annabeth battled the urge to touch one. The place was not exactly quiet but not overly loud. Annabeth bumped into people who scattered away at the sight of Percy and were too quick and nervous to apologize. Everyone seemed to be a little scared of Percy or at least they respected him a hell lot more that she did. Specially the girls of her age were annoying. They just giggled and moved away as Percy crossed them even though he didn't spare them a glance.

Finally Percy stopped in front of a huge fountain which seemed to be the center of the squadron and people made a huge attempt to not crowd around it. Percy set her down on the raised edge of the fountain and stood still looking down at her for a while. He seemed to think what to do with her. She stared back at him with a blank expression as the cool stray drops of water from the fountain lightly sprayed her back. Maybe it was because of the lake, but the temperature there wasn't cold at all. It was rather pleasant.

And then from the sea of curious people a happy go lucky girl bounced towards Percy and as she approached him Annabeth could see Percy's brow relax and his features lightening up. Annabeth turned all her attention to the new comer. Sure enough she was a beauty. She wore a knee length white sleeve less kinda dress and had flat straw sandals on. Strands from the side of her caramel head were pulled back and clipped while the rest of her waist long hair moved with the breeze. She was slim and quiet fair and her eyes were two beautiful almonds. Her pink and plump smile was the turning point of her features. It made her look like a goddess and sure enough Annabeth knew why Percy had relaxed on seeing her when she threw her arms around him and gave him hug. Percy's flat lined lips twitched a little up as one of his hand landed on the goddess's waist and the other on her back.

It's not an intimate hug, thought Annabeth, he has hugged her way more intimately before.

For all Annabeth knew this could be Percy's sister if Tyson could be his brother. Well, she could care less.

"Calypso! You are just the person I was looking for!" Percy said, sounding some what relieved.

"Really?" Calypso was all sunshine. If this had been a high school and Mr popular Percy (It's impossible for him not be popular) and Ms Goddess would surely have dated. But as this was a war Annabeth wondered if anyone dated anybody at all. Even thinking about it made her feel silly and a tad bit small. There were far more important things to worry about in a war of course. But still Calypso surely had a huge crush on Percy by the way she was practically glowing in his arms. Though there was no significant change in Percy but Annabeth could see that this girl surely was at least his friend.

"I have work. Could you get Annabeth... comfortable here and then drop her by one of my guest rooms."

"Sure!"

Then Calypso shifted a little to look at Annabeth.

Annabeth had expected Calypso to be a two faced girl like those epic cheer leaders in all the young adult books she had read. But yet again her thoughts were shot down.

Calypso had just widened her eyes a little bit (as if in awe) and had maintained her smile, which, Annabeth was starting to realize was genuine. Calypso went ahead and looped her arm through Annabeth's, making her stand up (her foot hurt!) and smiled at Percy and said in an overly cheery voice.

"Leave it to me Sir!"

Percy tried to smile back, failed and decided to leave. As he turned to go his eyes caught Annabeth's for an instant and Annabeth thought that maybe, just maybe he had slightly managed to smile a little after all.

The tour Calypso gave her was a whirlwind. First she limped her way to the public bath as Calypso enthusiastically pointed out random shops and places and waved at kids and people who passed them. None of them really stopped to talk to Annabeth except of course for the 'Welcome dear' line but not everyone was glaring at her or keeping there distance. Actually most of them smiled and waved and the children even promised to teach her the art of catching fish with just your hands.

By the time she was in one of the hot springs of the public bath, Annabeth felt kind of nice. People here didn't look all that hostile like they had in her old school yesterday. Was that even yesterday? With a sickening feeling Annabeth realized that it had been already over twenty-four hours. It was the longest she had ever been away from her home and her Family. As she let the warm water sooth her skin and relax her muscles she wondered what her Mom was doing. She hoped Malcolm was doing alright. He had always stuck to her like a leach (a totally adorable one!) and Annabeth couldn't even start to think about the twins and her Dad. This was all because of Leo... no, Luke.

"So where are you from?"

Calypso startled Annabeth out of her misery with that question. She felt stupid for that because it was only the two of them in that particular spring.

Annabeth thought for a moment before replying, "From the town. Anges."

Calypso shook her head in sympathy before saying, "It's horrible there isn't it? Being a commoner and not a noble?"

Annabeth planned her answer out carefully before replying. She couldn't just tell her that in her time it didn't matter.

"Yes, mostly for my dad because he doesn't look like them and my little twin half-siblings. But my Mom, me and my brother and sister all have blonde hair and grey eyes. We have fooled a lot of authorities before."

"You have quite a family!," Calypso chimed, "Where are they now? Do they know your are okay? How did you get to the forest?"

That's when Annabeth took an overly dramatic breath and sniffed to stop non-existing tears.

"We were driven out of our house and those palace guards wanted me and my sister. We ran, got separated and somehow I ended up here", She was glad for all the history books she had read along with the fiction one. This was something the evil soldiers did in almost all of the ones which were based on war. And Calypso bought it all.

"Oh Annabeth! I am so sorry! I hope your sister and your family are alright!" Calypso looked so sad that Annabeth almost felt guilty for lying. But for one thing she knew that her family was okay, worried sick, but okay. So the next thing she said was somewhat true.

"I know they are."

After that Calypso took Annabeth to see the nurse who was a sweet plump women in her forties with large brown eyes and short red hair. She wrapped Annabeth's hurting foot in a crape bandage and asked her to take it easy for a few days. After that Annabeth found it really easy to walk as Calypso led her through the trees and twigs and sand and mud and water and finally to where the great fall was. The sound of it was deafening but the trees in between the squadron and the fall were doing a good job at absorbing it there.

"Wait here!" Annabeth read Calypso's lips as she hurried of to somewhere.

Annabeth nodded and just looked around. The fall was beautiful and was smoking where it met the lake. All the little streams from the town fed it with water and it was wide, almost a meter maybe. The land around it was slippery and Annabeth was glad that Calypso had forced her to wear her sandals. She would have gotten her crape bandage dirty otherwise. The fall was about twenty feet high and on the lake the two islands floated proudly as the sun started to rise from behind the larger island. The wind changed it's direction every now and then and Annabeth's open hair decided it was okay to move with the wind as they lost their dampness from the bath. There were small ripples on the surface of the lake and Annabeth could tell that there were a lot of fish in there.

She took a deep breath in and the earthly smell mixed with that of the blue water ahead filled her nostrils. Making her feel sleepy and a bit light headed.

A rope with a anchored end came flying and dug it self deep on the mud near her feet, snapping Annabeth out of her little bubble. Was she being attacked again?

Her thoughts were answered by Calypso calling out her name from the lake beneath her feet,

"Annabeth hurry! Slide down the rope."

Annabeth looked down to see that the other end of the rope was tied to a wooden boat whose oars where in Calypso's small hands. Annabeth couldn't help but wonder how she had thrown the rope from there and hit the mark perfectly. The tautness of the rope proved that whatever Calypso had done to get it there, she had done it perfectly with those small hands. So before Annabeth could freak out and complain about the fall she crossed her ankles around the rope( with was thick and soft) and kind of hugged it as she slid down in an alarming speed due to the full force of gravity pulling her down. She felt the cold wind beat against her skin and lift all her hair up and her cotton white white frock flapped against her thighs. She gave a scream of thrill out as she went down. The rush of wind had popped her ears and teared her eyes but it had also rushed her senses, making her forget about everything... even herself.

But then she hit the hard wood of the boat and the déjà vu was over too soon. She stared wide eyed at an amused Calypso and laughed. It was the first time since she had got there but she couldn't help it. After a moment Calypso had joined her laughter.

"Can I do that gain?" Annabeth asked.

"Sure but not today, let's get you settled first." Calypso turned the boat around expertly and started moving towards the islands. That's when Annabeth realized that she was dripping wet.

"You jumped into the lake?" She asked incredulously.

Calypso gave out a small laugh and said, "It's fun that way too."

The rest of the the ride was quite uneventful as Annabeth mostly took in the mountains and the forests on them which surrounded the lake. Everything was green blue and brown.

When they passed the first, the smaller island, Annabeth saw a huge garden with different splash of colors on most of it surrounding a cabin. The cabin was not a tiny one... actually it was quite big. Calypso caught her looking and said,

"That's my island."

"You live here on your own? Alone?"

Calypso just shrugged and continued rowing.

Annabeth looked at her again, this time slowly and carefully. Could this overly cheerful girl be lonely? But then she remembered all those people in the town that ignored her waves and those who didn't talk to her. Now that she could think more clearly, Annabeth wondered how much of that was because of her and how much of it was Calypso. Maybe the girl in front of her felt as tiny as she was and maybe Percy was one of her few friends. Those new realizations made Annabeth guilty about thinking of Calypso as a snobbish cheer leader earlier.

So she started to talk. They talked and laughed about silly things like fish, food, flowers and of course boys. (turns out she had had a crush on Percy after all but had been clearly turned down. Annabeth could see that hadn't destroyed their friendship though.) And a bit too soon they reached the big island.

"kardiá tou o̱keanoú" Calypso announced as she helped Annabeth out of the anchored boat.

"The ocean's heart." Annabeth whispered as she took it all in. It was all trees and green and lush with a million springs of its own but what really stood out was the big wooden fortress which stood on what looked like a stone cliff.

"You speak Greek?" Calypso inquired as she tied the boat to a nearby tree.

Annabeth nodded. The place was pretty cool with raised walls but Annabeth could still make out slanting roofs and a few wisps of chimney. As she treked to it alongside Calypso she thought she would stop breathing. It's architecture was just... unspeakably beautiful. The mansion stood tall on an uneven base with high barred windows and grilled doors. It took a moment for Calypso to get inside but the wait was worth the while. A royal blue carpet washed over the large floor and only parted to give way to a giant staircase in the middle. Yeah in short it was a typical rich house minus the portraits as it was basically empty. It had two floors. The one on which Annabeth was standing had many turns and hallways (she could just tell) and the one above was the same.

"This way." Calypso turned to a brightly lit hallway (Those were fire torches. Annabeth was glad that the inside of the house was not of wood but rather bricks painted like wood for reasons.). Calypso stopped and opened the first of the many rooms in the hall way. She went inside and lit a lantern and took a deep breath.

"All right Annabeth. Get some rest. I'll come back tomorrow."

The room was big for one person. It had an open balcony facing one of the mountains far away, a bed, a desk with a stool and another door which probably led to the bathroom. The bed was perfectly made in white along with feathery pillows and suddenly the idea of crashing in them sounded too appealing.

"Am I going to be alone here?"

Calypso made her way behind the door and spoke through the crack.

"Not at all. Percy will be back soon. Don't worry he wont bother you." She quickly added the last part as she saw my face turning red.

"Oh, thank you Calypso." Annabeth said as she made her way towards the bed.

"Good night."

And then she was gone. Annabeth lay on the bed and listened to Calypso's footsteps as they grew fainter and then disappeared. Just as she fell asleep she registered the fact that her room also had a cupboard attached to the wall.

An hour passed...

"Wake up Annabeth!" Calypso yelled.

"I thought you went home." Annabeth said as she sat up, groaning as her head threatened to burst.

But one look at Calypso's strained teary face told Annabeth that something was up.

"Oh Annabeth it's... it's aweful! You must see!"

And with Calypso was pulling Annabeth to her feet and out of the gorgeous fortress.

Annabeth ran to keep up with Calypso in the corridors of her old school. Calypso had been frantic and uncertain the whole boat ride and even slipped once white climbing the fall hill. Annabeth had been very busy keeping track of her bandaged feet but she had caught hold of Calypso just in time.

Now as they raced down the school Annabeth noticed that the halls where tightly packed. There were whispers and mutterings every where. She even caught a few words like.

"They are gonna burn them."

"They deserve it."

Who was going to burn whom? Calypso led Annabeth to the yards which earlier Percy had helped her cross while she had leaned on him. The memory gave her stomach a flutter. Annabeth blushed slightly. The yard that was empty before was now so thick with people that it was hard to navigate. As Annabeth followed Calypso she used her elbow to push the bodies of the people there.

"Watch it girl!" Someone yelled, barely noticing her.

That was the loudest anyone there was. Everyone else was whispering. After about for ever Annabeth broke the crowd and was standing close to the cause of the mayhem. And the sight in front of her justified Calypso's frantics and hysteria. Someone had erected a large wooden tree log there to which a women was tied. She had blonde hair and through the tears in her eyes Annabeth could see that her eyes were ice blue. She appeared to be in her late thirties. Her pink and white gown must have been elegant once but now it was torn and blemished at places. Her paper white skin and her long curly hair were covered in soot.

At her foot a little boy of about five, stood clutching her knees, crying and yelling for his mother's sake. His white and blue suite had met the same disaster that his mother's gown had and so had his cropped blonde hair and papery face. The women was sobbing and asking her son to leave but... how could he leave her? His eyes were blood shot and the blue in them was so light that they almost appeared grey. He looked like little Malcolm. The thought made Annabeth sick to her stomach but not as sick as the ring of twelve people surrounding the log. The thirteen leaders (minus Jason) stood tall in black cargoes and black jackets over black T-shirts. There faces grim and as they held on to a burning stick of fire. Ready to burn the noble women. Percy stood there, the sleeves of his heavy black jacked rolled up to his elbows, his face sweating from the heat of the flame. From the way he was staring at the little boy distracted Annabeth. He looked... it looked like he didn't want that kid to suffer.

Someone came over and hauled the little boy away.

A skinny boy called Octavian (Annabeth caught the whispers around her) came up front from his position in the ring and shouted.

"Burn the witch! On three!"

"What is happening?" Annabeth asked Calypso who couldn't stop crying and rubbing at her eyes.

"Witch burning. The thirteen leaders have supreme right to punish the devils, the nobles. But this hasn't happened in so long!"

"That women is General Hyperion's wife. She had stood right there when all those common people were gassed and had done nothing. Serves the bitch right!"

But what about the kid?

"One!" Octavian shouted and everyone cheered. The howls and cries of the kid drowned in the jeers.

"Stop this." Calypso said weakly but no one heard her.

"Two!"

Annabeth caught Percy's eyes but then he quickly looked away. Why wasn't he protesting?

"Three!"

Octavian rejoined his colleagues. The Leaders started to move forward. That's when Annabeth caught the women's eyes.

Please, my son!

"Burn!" Octavian yelled.

"STOP THIS!"

And all the heads and the flames turned towards Annabeth.

Great, she thought, just great.

This is all till end of March I am afraid. It was really hard to write because I had to hide from mom! So please please please tell me how this was. Was it rushed?