Disclaimer: I don't own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.
The Ever Twisting Wind: The Gaean War
Interlude: Back at Camp Half-Blood
Beta: *Beta Wanted*
It was a late night at Camp Half-Blood in Long Island, New York, and Annabeth Chase, daughter of Athena and Architect of Olympus, found herself at the pier of Camp's Canoe Lake looking down longingly at the tranquil surface of the water and recalling the sweet memory of her first kiss with her boyfriend, Percy, in those very waters. A boyfriend that was currently missing, who had literally suddenly disappeared from one day to the next. A boyfriend that they were unable to find hide nor hair of despite her and the rest of the Campers' desperate search for him.
"I knew I would find you here, Annabeth." Her mentor, the Activities Director of Camp and the legendary Trainer of Heroes, the Centaur, Chiron, said kindly as he walked up to join Annabeth. "You should catch some sleep. You'll need your strength to continue the search for Percy tomorrow."
"I know." Annabeth agreed. "But I just couldn't sleep."
"I understand." Chiron said sympathetically. "But you should try nonetheless."
"I know." Annabeth repeated with a sigh. "Just give me another minute. To reminisce."
Chiron just sighed as well but otherwise kept his silence, allowing her to do as she said and take a moment to sink into the memory of her first kiss with Percy. The memory of their lips meeting in the bubble of air that her Seaweed Brain had wrapped around them with the hydrokinetic power that he had inherited as a son of Poseidon. Of how their inexperience had them fumbling through the kiss which was embarrassing but also an incredibly sweet, nostalgic memory as they learned how to kiss with each other.
She was just remembering how she'd experimentally tried to slip her tongue into Percy's mouth as they got comfortable with normal kissing, only to jab her tongue into her boyfriend's teeth, when her trip down memory lane was interrupted by the excited voice of her brother, Malcolm. "Chiron! Annabeth! There you are! I've been looking for you everywhere!"
"What is it, Malcolm?" Chiron said as he gave Annabeth's shoulder a comforting squeeze and turned to look towards her fellow child of Athena as the boy raced towards them alongside Miranda Gardiner, the Head Counselor of Demeter's Cabin, and Will Solace, the Head Counselor of Apollo's Cabin.
"I've figured out a way to get in touch with a god. A god that can help us find Percy." Malcolm said excitedly as he, Miranda, and Will came to a stop just short of where Annabeth and Chiron stood on the Canoe Lake's pier.
"Who?" Annabeth asked bitterly. "Which of the gods, all of whom have cut off communication with us, even our parents, would be willing to help us?"
"Andi." Will said, full of confidence. "She will help us."
"Yes, your girlfriend." Annabeth said with a scoff. "Your goddess girlfriend that has ghosted you for months now. Just like all the other gods. Betcha-"
Annabeth's cynical bitterness was about to say something unkind, suggesting that Andi had forgotten about Will. That she had found an immortal or perhaps even a divine lover to replace him. A hurtful thing to suggest, not just to Will but also to the absent Andi, who despite now being a goddess had only a few years ago been a fellow Half-blood and was still a close friend. Thankfully, before the words could leave her mouth, Chiron put a hand on her shoulder and gave her a quelling squeeze.
"Will, I'm so sorry. I'm-"
"Don't mention it, Annabeth. I know you didn't mean it. You're just hurting because Percy is missing." Will said kindly. "Considering how I've been unable to get in touch with Andi for months myself, I know how you feel."
Annabeth felt like she'd been slapped. How could she forget? With the gods cutting off all contact almost at the same time that Percy had gone missing, Will had been unable to get in touch with Andi just as long. He had effectively lost his partner just like she had.
Knowing that, Annabeth prepared to apologize again but Chiron gave her shoulder another quelling squeeze, cutting her before she could formulate a word. "Tell us what breakthrough you came here to tell us about, Malcolm."
Malcolm and Miranda looked between Annabeth and Will with deep concern for a long moment before he finally answering the Centaur with a worried frown. "We, um, think we've figured out a way to get in touch with Lady Andi. One that might just get through whatever inhibition or whatever that's keeping the gods from contacting us."
"And I suppose that this method has something to do with you, Miranda?" Chiron asked, looking at the daughter of Demeter with a thoughtful look on his face.
"Yes," Miranda said with a nod. "I don't know if you remember her, Annabeth, but I'm pretty sure you do, Chiron. You see, I have a sister that used to be a Half-blood, Katie Gardner."
Annabeth frowned. That name sounded familiar but try as she might, she simply could not bring up any clear memories of anyone by that name. Much less a daughter of Demeter that might have gone by that name.
"Was she before my time in Camp?" Annabeth asked, thoroughly confused not just by this mysterious daughter of Demeter but also how she could possibly help them get in touch with Andi.
"No," Chiron said, looking like he'd had an epiphany. "She was Miranda's immediate predecessor as Head Counselor of Cabin Four and died her mortal death whilst on a Quest for Lady Andromeda a few months ago."
"What!? Then how come- The Mist! Someone used the Mist to make us forget her, didn't they?"
"Mother, I imagine." Miranda said with a nod. "She probably did it to help Katie transition from her mortal life to her immortal life as a Dryad in service to Lady Andi. It's something Mother would do."
"So you remember her?" Annabeth asked, looking at Miranda curiously. "Because she is your sister?"
"That's my guess." Miranda agreed. "Anyway, I mentioned her to Malcolm just now and-"
If this had been any other time, Annabeth might've been curious about why her brother was spending time with Miranda so late at night but right now she was too focused on the potential lifeline for her search for Percy in front of her to care about her sibling's love life. So, she just turned to Malcolm expectantly.
"When Miranda mentioned her sister, it jogged my memory, and I recalled she was Lady Andi's Dryad lieutenant now and that meant we could use Katie to contact her."
Annabeth nodded. That made sense. "I presume you've tried IMing (Iris Messaging) her already? Did it work?"
"We did and no dice. Katie's just as uncontactable via IM as the gods." Will cut in to explain. "But there is one person who is contactable and we've checked is able to get in touch with her."
"Her father." Chiron said with a nod. "Despite whatever is preventing them from contacting us, Lady Demeter and Lady Andromeda would not be hard hearted enough to prevent Katie from communicating with her father."
"That's what we thought." Malcolm agreed. "That's why we IMed him as soon as we figured that out and checked. He's confirmed he can still IM Katie."
"Which means we can ask him to pass on messages to Katie! And through her to Andi!" Annabeth said excitedly, her hopes for finding her boyfriend buoyed. "Which means we can ask her to help us find Percy!"
Her fellow Half-bloods all nodded, feeling as optimistic as she was. Only Chiron seemed unconvinced.
"I would not get your hopes up so soon, Annabeth." He warned. "It is clear that there are powerful forces at work in both Percy's disappearance and the gods' silence. Forces that might be too powerful for Lady Andromeda's assistance alone to overcome."
"Maybe not." Annabeth said, her optimism dimmed a little but not fully diminished. "But I'll try anyway. Even if Andi can't bring Percy back, I'm sure she'll help us somehow."
"I'm sure she will." Will said confidently.
Annabeth took heart in that. As Andi's boyfriend, the son of Apollo knew the goddess of the wild best. If he said Andi would help then she would. Annabeth was sure of that!
A few weeks later, Annabeth felt like cursing her overconfidence at Andi being willing to help them as she sat next to a fountain that had been set up in the Big House specifically to create the rainbows needed for IMs and engaged in one such video call with Mr. Gardner, Katie, Andi's Dryad lieutenant's mortal father and their point of contact with the goddess of breezes.
"The same as always, Mr. Gardner?" Annabeth asked the middle aged man on the opposite end of the magical call powered by the goddess Iris.
"I'm afraid so, Annabeth, as you'll be able to see for yourself when the latest letter I sent you reaches Camp." The man said sympathetically. "Lady Andi is still saying that she can't risk helping in your search for that boyfriend of yours."
"She's still insisting that doing so will just put him in more danger?"
Mr. Gardner nodded.
"And she still refuses to say why?"
"Unfortunately," Mr Gardiner agreed. "She just repeats what she's previously said about revealing too much and how that in itself would put Percy in danger."
Annabeth wanted to alternately pull at her hair at the news or, more satisfying, deck Andi for it. She was their friend! Why was she suddenly pulling this godly mystery crap on them!
It was only the fact that Andi was indeed their friend that stopped Annabeth from doing something stupid like curse her name. Something which, friend or not, would've earned her some kind of divine punishment from Andi. She had a godly reputation to maintain after all. Anyway, she knew Andi wouldn't keep things as close to her chest like this if she had a choice in the matter, which meant that revealing anything, much less helping Percy, would really do him more harm than good. At least, Andi thought so. Annabeth disagreed but then again she wasn't privy to all the facts of the matter and was insanely biased besides, so she had no choice but to trust her friend's judgment.
That however did not mean she would just sit idle and not try to change Andi's mind. Just like she was trying every other available option in their bid to hunt down where Percy was, she wasn't going to give up on this one either!
"Mr. Gardner, if you don't mind, could I dictate another letter to Andi?" Annabeth pleaded with the man. They had discovered that the ban that Lord Zeus had imposed on contact between the gods and the mortal world was strict enough that they could not just pass letters to Katie's father and simply have him pass it on to his daughter to relay to Andi. No, any such attempts saw the letters in question disintegrate once they reached Katie's hands. Instead, they had to trouble Mr. Gardner to pass the message along to Katie more directly and then have her give it to Andi. And of all the methods they tried, they'd settled on him transcribing their messages for Andi as being the most effective.
"Of course, Annabeth." Mr. Gardner said kindly as he gestured to the writing set he had set out in front of him. "I am ready and waiting."
Smiling at how accommodating the man was, Annabeth began pouring her heart into a desperate plea to Andi to help her bring Percy back to her. The latest in dozens of such soul baring calls for her friend's help that she sent her way.
It was frankly mortally embarrassing to do this but Annabeth didn't care. She would do anything to bring Percy home. Anything!
Done and done! Thanks to Nameless as always!
A nice little interlude to show the mortal side of things while Andi's bustling about with her godly duties. Plus it gives us a good timeskip power too. Along with showing how Annabeth is handling things. Not well, but at least she's still put together.
Nameless: Hope you enjoyed our short little interlude of what's happening to Andi's Half-blood friends. We'll look towards sprinkling this in here and there throughout the story, perhaps not always as an interlude but we will try to do so. So like I said earlier, I hope you enjoyed it.
You know what to do! Smash that review button and tell us what you love! No flames and peace off my peeps!