Annabeth POV
Just like that, my perfect day was gone. When Percy and I had just started to show off my ring, he was taken from me yet again. The only difference between this time and the last time is this time I got to say goodbye before he was taken.
"Annabeth, you must see that he's doing this to protect you from harm. I know this is hard, but you must believe that he will come back to you" Piper said. "I know you're right, but I'm more fearful this time around since I know where he is, but I don't know if he'll come back to me."
I sat there crying with my friends and family comforting me, before Sally and her family came to stand by my side. When I was just about done crying my mother came up to me with a smile across her face. "Annabeth look at the plus side of this, now you won't have Percy distracting you from all the planning and work we have to do."
I got up from my seat with pure rage in my voice. "I cannot believe you just said that mother. Percy has always been the anchor in my life when I needed him, and I've always needed him. He has been taken from me twice now and I cannot believe how selfish you are right now; a wedding is more enjoyable when the actual couple is planning it not you. You are my mother and I respect you and I appreciate your help but do not say that I'm going to enjoy this without Percy."
I ran out of the house before she could say another word, before breaking down again. How could my own mother say that to me knowing that I was extremely upset?
"Wow I didn't know you had it in you Annabeth" a voice said from behind. I turned to see who it was, and I couldn't believe who had shown up. "Clarisse, what are you doing here." "I came to say congratulations or whatever but then I heard you yell at your mom, and I'm impressed that you had that in you, plus I have a gift for you." She handed me her gift which was a baby outfit with an owl holding a trident. "How did you know" I asked.
"That's privileged information but I'll tell you. My father told me, he said that Aphrodite brought it up when they went on one of their dates" she said while pretending to gag. "Do you know how far along." "Clarisse, I need you to swear on the River STYX that you'll never tell." "Annabeth, you know I would never..." "Clarisse, I need you to promise me, this cannot leave this circle."
"I, Clarisse La Rue, swear on the River STYX to not tell a single soul, but have you told Percy yet." "I was going to tell him tonight after the party, but Poseidon took him away to fight in some war." "How far along are you Annabeth." "I'm two months into my pregnancy, and now the one person I needed most in my life is away."
"Yeah, my father told me about the war under the sea. According to him it's the most dangerous war yet. I'm surprised you haven't looked at the water recently" Clarisse said. I looked at the water and could see it shaking and rumbling under the pressure of the battle.
We walked back to Sally's house while Clarisse cheered me up saying how Chris stepped on a land mine but unfortunately it was a fake mine planted by the Stoll brothers. "When you say unfortunately, are you implying that you wish he got hurt" I said while trying not to laugh. "Of course I didn't want him hurt, but it was kind of his fault that he stepped on it in the first place."
I laughed the rest of the way home while Clarisse yelled at me before laughing herself. "Annabeth" Piper exclaimed when she saw me. "I'll leave you to your little friends" Clarisse said. As I walked towards Piper, I was convinced that she would make me feel guilty about leaving but was surprised when she gave me a hug instead.
"I was so worried when you didn't come back Annabeth" Piper said. "I'm sorry I made you worry Piper; I just couldn't be around anyone after what my mom said." After I finished talking, Piper made small talk saying that her mother always interferes with her and Jason's relationship.
"Do you want to tell me why Percy had to leave abruptly, he seemed sad that he had to go." I told her everything that Percy had told me. He said that Oceanus had come back and waged war on his father, and to resolve the matter, Poseidon had to take all his children to end the war. "Do you know how long he will be gone?" Piper asked.
"He said it would be a couple months to half a year, but the thing is I need him near me and not just because of the wedding." "What do you mean Annabeth? What can Percy do that none of us can do for you?" "Piper, I can trust you with my secret right. You must promise me that you won't tell anyone." "I promise Annabeth, what's the secret that you need me to protect."
I didn't say anything, instead, I handed her the gift that Clarisse had given me. She opened the box and saw the baby outfit inside. She looked at me and saw me holding my belly. "Annabeth" she said while holding back tears. "How far along? Have you told Percy? Do you know the gender? Do you have names picked out?" "Piper please slow down I'll tell you. I'm two months in. No, I haven't told Percy yet. Since it's still early I don't know the gender, and no I don't have names picked out."
Piper squealed with excitement at the mere mention of Me having a child. As I told her to stay quiet, sense she was getting too loud. "I'm sorry Annabeth, you know, I just get excited since I am a daughter of Aphrodite." But like I told her, it must be a secret to keep from everyone at least for now. Before we walked back to the house, I took one last look at the ocean and saw that it was still crashing against the shore.
Knowing that Percy would always protect me, I didn't have to worry about anything bad happening to me, at least from the sea. Now all I had to worry about were the enemies from the surface. I asked Piper if it would be ok if I Iris messaged Percy while he was underwater. She replied maybe it wouldn't be a good idea since he is fighting for his life.
As much as I wanted to argue with Piper, I knew that the logic that she presented was important since I didn't want anything to happen to Percy while he was protecting me. As we walked back to the party, which was starting to dwindle down. The only people remaining were my family along with Piper and Jason, Grover and Juniper, Sally and Paul, and of course my family.
"How are you feeling Annabeth" Sally asked. "You ran out of here in a panic it made me worry." "I'm sorry Mrs. Blofis, I was just upset at what my mom said to me." "I'm sorry Annabeth, I know it was hard for you, but you aren't alone in this. You have all of us to help you." As Sally pulled me in for a hug she said. "You know, since you're marrying Percy, I'll be mom instead of Mrs. Blofis if you don't mind." I didn't know such a small sentence could make me so happy.
With everyone all but gone, I went back to camp, but Piper would not let me drive back so instead I decided to ask my dad. Now my dad had decided to drive me to camp since his planes and helicopters couldn't fly across the country. Even though that is more dangerous, Piper hadn't said I wasn't allowed to fly back to camp. I walked back inside and proceeded to ask my dad if he would be willing to take me. "Of course, Anna, I'm glad you asked but can I ask why you can't drive to camp" Frederick asked. "I'm just tired after a long day is all, plus, I figured you wouldn't mind." His response instead of talking, was to give me a hug.
"I wouldn't trade spending time with you for anything Annabeth, I'm just thrilled that you are engaged and happy. Wait, why isn't Percy driving you home? Is he still here?" "He had to go help Poseidon with some last-minute errands, but he'll come back when he's done" I said. "I hope so, I want him to help me with some projects that I'm working on."
We loaded into my father's SUV with Bobby and Matthew going on the right side and myself going on the left. Helen was helping my dad put their suitcases inside the car and my dad insisted on doing it without my help. As the last of their luggage was loaded into the car, my dad got in, started the car and drove me to camp.
Along the way my stepfamily fell asleep, which was good since it meant there could be some peace and quiet. "Annabeth" my dad started to say, "would you like to tell me what's actually going on with Percy." I tried to say that nothing was wrong, but he caught me in my lie by raising his eyebrows. So, I explained how Percy had to go on a mission for his father and that he would be back in time to help with the wedding.
The rest of the ride we sat in silence with me asking how my dad was doing and how work was, and he said it was good, he found another Sopwith Camel that was in poor condition that he had to start fixing when they get back home. We arrived at camp a little after 10:30, my dad helped me grab my bags and gave me a hug while I promised to keep him updated on Percy. I waved goodbye as he drove away leaving me with my thoughts as I walked towards my cabin.
'I can't believe Percy's gone' I thought to myself. As much as I wanted to stay with my siblings, the thought of not being near Percy was too much to handle. Seeing that the whole camp was asleep, it wasn't too difficult to sneak into the Poseidon cabin, plus I was engaged to Percy, there must be an exception to the rule that campers can't go into different cabins.
I walked into the cabin with the gift Clarisse had given me and went over to Percy's bed where I sat down. I looked around at the other beds noting that Percy's half siblings weren't here as well. 'I guess Poseidon wasn't joking when he said he needed all his children' I thought to myself. I put my things on the nightstand next to Percy's bed and laid my head down while holding his spare camp T-shirt. I closed my eyes and thought about dreaming of my future with Percy, but this was not that dream.
To be honest, I didn't know where I was. It was dark, and it felt like I was moving in cement. Before I knew it, I was standing in the middle of a palace. Before I could ask anyone where I was, a dark figure tore through the ceiling like a piece of paper. I suddenly realized where I was, I stood there while marble tile fell from the ceiling and crashed into the ground. At first, I thought it was Percy's dad Poseidon, but what I saw was a chariot pulled by two crawfish the size of semi trucks, and the God in it was Oceanus. It's rare that my dreams take me to current events, but here I was, watching the war that pulled Percy away from me.
"Show yourself Poseidon, come out and face me" Oceanus yelled.
There was a bright light followed by the disintegration of the crawfish. There he was, Poseidon, standing 40 feet tall with his trident in his right hand.
"Who's hiding Oceanus, why can't we enter into peaceful negotiations instead of fighting this pointless war."
"I'll enter negotiations when you give me my domain back" Oceanus said.
As their weapons connected, there was a shockwave that destroyed half the palace and threw hundreds of soldiers into the walls and down crevices. Three warriors recovered and went to Poseidon's side to fight the enemy. I didn't recognize them at first but when I got closer, I couldn't believe my eyes. One of the warriors started growing as he approached Poseidon and seeing that he had only one eye and a club as a weapon, I knew that it was Tyson, general of the Poseidon army.
The other two I knew right away. The first one was a girl in blue battle armor with a spear and shield as her weapons of choice. She was Percy's half-sister Jessica who like Percy, had power from her dad. Unlike Percy who can control anything that connects with water, Jessica had the power to create earthquakes. The other person was my fiancée Percy, he held his weapon Riptide while he fought off a dozen enemy soldiers to get to Poseidon.
Now I've seen Percy fight off plenty of enemies at once before, but this time was different, these enemies were 20 feet tall each and held weighted nets in their hands. As Percy fought off 3 of the giants, one tried getting behind him to strike him with his spear. Before I could yell at Percy, Jessica showed up and slashed the giant in the throat and proceeded to help Percy with the rest of the giants. Now Tyson was almost like Poseidon, and Tyson was around 30 feet tall which compared to the giants is much bigger.
Now Oceanus knew he was about to be cornered, so he threw the serpent he had in his hand, and it started growing while it went after Tyson. By the time it reached Tyson, it turned into a 35-foot-long sea serpent that had started to wrap itself around Tyson. Suddenly, I heard Percy yell out in pain. During his fight, a merman came up behind him and stabbed him in the ribs with a knife. I saw Jessica tell something before slaying the enemy. She gently pulled the knife out of his side and saw that the wound was green.
I drifted closer to Percy and saw the pain in his eyes as Jessica yelled for a medic. 'I'm sorry Annabeth' Percy said as his eyes started closing. Poseidon turned towards Percy, and forgot all about the peace treaty with Oceanus, his face was full of rage as his trident sailed towards Oceanus's face.
Suddenly, I was being shaken up from my dream, and the person standing in front of me wasn't Chiron, but Grover and Nico.
"Annabeth are you ok? You were shaking and yelling in your sleep, we didn't know anyone was in this cabin to begin with until we heard you" Grover said.
I tried getting up only to be pushed back down by Nico who held up a square of ambrosia to feed me with. "Annabeth, you don't have the strength to move just eat for now" Nico said. I knew to be careful with ambrosia since it wouldn't just kill me but also my baby. Oh, gods my baby.
"How long was I asleep for" I asked with a concerned look on my face.
"You were only asleep for a day Annabeth, don't worry about the wedding plans Juniper and I helped cover what you needed to do."
"Grover, can you give me a couple minutes to talk to Nico, I have some questions to ask him."
"Of course Annabeth, whatever you need I will help you get" Grover replied as he walked out of the cabin.
"Annabeth I know what you're going to ask and my answer is I'm not sure" Nico said.
"How can you not be sure! I saw his dying in my dream and you say I don't know. Isn't sensing people deaths your gift" I said.
"Annabeth, he didn't die. His body is with his father right now and he's doing everything he can to make sure he stays alive. I know you're worried about Percy and I know you want to be with him but trust me when I say he's in the best possible care. There's no way that his father will let him die."
"I believe you Nico, I just want him to be with me. He left for the war just two days ago and he almost died. I just want him home" I said with tears streaming down my face.
As I held my face in my hands, I heard Nico leave only to be replaced by someone else.
"Annabeth my dear" Chiron said. "I know what's happening and I am truly sorry."
"I just want him back Chiron, we had so much planned but now we can't since he's not here. Haven't we both gone through enough to finally have our happy ending? Why are the fates so cruel to us."
"My dear I know you want to blame the fates right now, but the truth is that Poseidon needed Percy for this. The war that Poseidon has been fighting has been going on for a year, it was bad timing that Percy was taken, but to end the war he's fighting it had to be done" Chiron said.
With Chiron finished talking, he motioned me out of the cabin since I was breaking the rules. All at once, I was surrounded by my siblings and the Aphrodite kids about what I did in the Poseidon cabin and why I didn't go to my cabin. I explained to the best of my ability that I just wanted to sleep in a place without noise while being close to Percy, which was true but also a lie. They asked me more questions, but I made an excuse about planning my wedding even though Grover and Juniper covered that for me.
I walked to the pier where I first kissed Percy and as I laid my legs down into the water, I said a silent prayer to Poseidon hoping that Percy would come home safe and sound to me. I went back to my cabin where I fell asleep as soon as I laid down on my pillow, thinking about the wedding plans for tomorrow.