Chapter Twenty-one

Percy smiled as he lay on his cot, his lips still tingling. The kiss was perfect, her blonde hair flowing between his fingers as he held her. He closed his eyes in content and his mind drifted off into pleasant dreams.

Triton was drunk, simply said. With his intoxication came lust, but not for just anyone, only the grey eyed girl, Annabeth. He wanted Annabeth. So he staggered through the halls, a wine cup in hand as the moon filtered through the windows, casting a bluish-white glow onto the stone corridors. Finally, he made it to what he thought was her door. He opened the door without knocking and stumbled into the bedroom. His vision was dazed and yet he saw no one. The bedroom was empty. He growled in frustration and kicked a bedstand, sending the candle on top of it crashing to the floor. Then he collapsed in his drunkenness.

To say Annabeth was happy would be an understatement. It was incredible, the feeling of his lips touching hers.

She was so distracted that when she came to the small crack of light at the end of the secret passage and opened the door, she nearly stepped on Triton. She covered her mouth and muffled a shriek. What was he doing here? she thought frantically. She paled as she realized he was drunk. The spilled wine cup clearly indicated that. The reason she was afraid was the fact that he was here, in her bedchambers, drunk. She shuddered as she thought about what could have happened had she been there, sleeping.

There is no way I'm sleeping here, she thought. She walked quietly around the collapsed man and made her way to Piper's bedroom where she quietly knocked. A groggy Piper answered the door. "Yes?" she yawned. Then she recognized who she was talking to. "Annabeth, come in!" she ushered her older sister in.

Annabeth sat on her sisters bed, staring at her hands. Though the horror of finding Triton passed out in her bedroom was fresh, her thoughts could not help going back to the kiss she had shared with the green eyed boy earlier that night. A faint smile formed on her lips.

"Annabeth? Why are you here?" her sister asked.

The smile instantly disappeared at the thought of Triton. "I found Triton passed out drunk in my room," came the answer.

Piper's eyes widened. "Triton was drunk in your bedroom?!"

Annabeth nodded solemnly.

Piper began angrily pacing and muttering. From what Annabeth could catch it had something to do with "Stupid...drunken...son of a mule...when I get my hands on him…"

"Piper," Annabeth said softly.

"I mean what kind of sick person gets drunk and does something like that. It's disgusting-"

"Piper," Annabeth said slightly louder.

"First Marcus Poseidon, then Thalia, then Jason, now you! Nuh-uh, I won't let him. He can't just-"

"PIPER!"

The pacing girl stopped and looked at the slightly amused blonde girl. "I appreciate your feelings on the matter but I really don't think the castle needs to know about what you think about Triton."

Piper sighed. "I know it's just. You're all I have left Annabeth. I can't lose you and won't allow you to be treated that way by a lowlife like Triton."

Annabeth smiled at her sister and pulled her in for a hug.

"There's just one thing I don't understand," Piper said after she pulled away.

"And what is that?"

"How could you have found him, not run from him?"

Annabeth paled. In her anxiety she had let her guard down. "Uh..."

Piper smirked. "I don't believe it. Did the perfect Annabeth Chase sneak out? And based on your swollen lips, to meet a boy, oh and let me guess, could it have been Perseus, that gladiator you've been eyeing for a week?"

Annabeth blushed. Leave it to Piper to be the detective of love interests. If she hadn't known that that the younger girl was the daughter of their mother Minerva, then she could have mistaken her for a daughter of Venus, goddess of love.

Piper slung her arm around her older sister's shoulder and smiled. "Don't worry Annie, your secrets safe with me."

Annabeth narrowed her eyes at her sister. "Don't, call me Annie."

Nico smirked. He had seen his brother and that girl come out of that room, the girl leaving first before putting up her hood. Later, his brother came out, hands cuffed, but a smile on his swollen lips as he was lead to his cell. He laughed.

So Percy found himself a girl? he thought.

Then he thought about how he was the only one in their circle of friends who didn't have a love interest. I need to get myself a lover.

The sun shined bright on the head of Percy. The stands of the Colosseum were still empty. The wood on which he stood swayed in accordance with the artificial , the Colosseum was flooded, and Percy stood upon a ship, preparing to fight the battle of the Lipari Islands.

Author's Note: If you didn't catch it, this a prelude to another battle. Also, a few reactions to the kiss and Triton's creepiness. So...yeah! Thanks for reading and reviewing. You guys are great. PLEASE REVIEW!