Chapter 45 let's talk life choices

Annabeth's POV

I waited, watching Alabaster from the hilltop until he stepped onto the path. Then I turned and started back down towards the camp. Percy and Piper by my side, halfway down the hill she asked.

"Now what do we do?"

On my other side Percy replied,

"We protect our home."

"Of course, it's just how? I know you guys have done this sort of thing a lot, but all of my experience happened in the mortal world. This feels different somehow."

I nodded,

"That's to be expected, it feels different because it's close. The threat isn't in a faraway state or the ancient lands, it's here, right now, it came to us instead of the other way around."

Percy's voice lowered as he said,

"They're making it personal."

Piper was quite for a few steps before asking,

"So how do we deal with this?"

I shied,

"The same way we always do. We'll turn my cabin into a command center, set up rotating century duties, and prepare our defense's. The campers with the least amount of experience will mostly run messages and deliver food and water to the centuries."

"What will the rest of us be doing?"

"Taking turns on guard and making sure everything else runs smoothly, not to mention of course, being ready at all times for the inevitable attack."

"Do you mean the current plan is to just wait for them to come and attack us? Wouldn't it be better to have something a bit more proactive?"

"In this circumstance I think it's best if we wait, alabaster told us exactly what his intentions are in order to do that he's going to have to get up close and personal. There's not that many of them at least that's what it looks like. He could be hoping to draw out."

Piper was about to say something when Jason flew up, he gave her a quick kiss, sup nodded at Percy then looked at me.

"Sarah is looking for her to join the defenses. I sent her to get her arm then meet you back at the big house. I figured you still wanted to talk to her about something."

"I do thanks, Jason but if you could tell her to meet me at my cabin instead, that would be great."

"Yeah, I can do that. How'd the meeting go?"

"Well, it could've been better. It's time for a pair for an attack, he was presenting an option we couldn't take."

"Sounds about right, I don't know how you guys normally set up your defenses, but I have some ideas."

"Yeah I want to talk to you about some of that. Meet me back at my cabin in an hour. Everything should be up and running by then in the meantime, though would you, Percy and Clarice start organizing, say 50 campers to be on standby just in case they decide to attack sooner than expected."

"Sure thing Percy if you get a Headstart on that I'm gonna go catch Sarah."

"On it."

"Thanks man."

The two boys ran off in different directions as Piper turned towards me.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Until we get everything up and running are you willing to act as the guard at the big house? Just in case our houseguest tries anything."

"I suppose I could manage that. Assuming I don't die of boredom."

I smiled, for the first time in weeks.

" I know it's not the most glamorous mission, but you're the best one for the job at the moment."

"Yeah yeah whatever."

"Hey, I can't believe I didn't think about this earlier but while you're in the big house would you go up to the attic and see if you can find a useless crumpled ball of shiny metal?"

"I don't know why you would need to use the Scrabble ball of shiny metal, but I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks if you find it, would you take it to Leo, maybe he can fix it."

"Sure. What is it exactly?"

"oh, you mean before it was a useless piece of metal?"

"Yep."

"It used to be my shield. Beckendorf made it for me back in the Titan war. It was my only other magic item. The shield was like well. It was a mirror shield."

Piper held up her hand for me to stop,

"You can tell me later, assuming if I take this piece of junk to Leo, he'll know what it is?"

I bit my lip,

"He should just tell him the mirror shield for Annabeth, and see if he can fix it."

"I can arrange that."

"Thanks Piper, you're the best."

She laughed as she ran off towards the bakehouse calling over her shoulder,

"I know I am!"

When I made it back to my cabin I was pleased to see that Malcolm had been busy. On the porch were three large chalkboards which had cabin numbers with temporary orders based on the occupancy number of each one. So anyone who didn't know what to do could look at the bord and get to work. Meanwhile, the inside of my cabin was a flurry of activity. Malcolm had several of our siblings, pulling out old schematics of camp defenses from the titan war. While another group we're going over and selecting several of the new plans that I'd had my siblings working on throughout the past few weeks. Malcolm himself was both giving directions and helping draft the list for ongoing border patrol, and the relief for the current centuries. When he saw me gave a relieved smile and came to meet me in the doorway. I moshed for him to follow me out to the porch. Pulling my warhelm off, I placed it at my feet and leaned against the porch railing. Malcolm leaned next to me.

"Well what's happening?"

"We're keeping Luke, he's going to be kept basically under house arrest until we can deal with all of this."

"Ok, I heard you got called up to the hill."

"Yea, the ring leader is some guy named Alabaster. Do you remember him at all?"

"Somewhat, I think he's a son of Hecate."

"Hmm, we should ask Llewellyn, maybe she'll know something. Anyways, he wanted to inform me that he's planning on taking down our borders as a result of us not giving him Luke."

"sounds pretty typical."

"Yeah but what bothers me is he sounded pretty confident, another thing that bothers me is one of the guys he had with him."

"oh yeah."

"He looked vaguely familiar. He looks like any son of Apollo, except he carried a sword, and the look he was giving me, I get the feeling I should definitely remember him but I'm not sure.. well, it doesn't really matter at the moment. Do you think you could hold down the fort for a little bit longer?"

"I'd rather have you back sooner than later, but I can."

"Good cause I need to have a quick work with Sarah."

He followed my gaze to were . Sarah was slowly trudging towards my cabin in full armor. Malcolm gave me a pat on the shoulder as he went back inside.

"Good luck."

"Thanks I'm gonna need it."

Grabbing my helm and stuffing it under my arm I stepped off the porch to meet Sarah on the common ground.

"Hey Annabeth."

"Jason said you're looking for something to do."

"Yea, he told me to meet you here, something about you still wanting to talk to me."

"I do, I wanted to speak with you about a couple different things."

"Ok."

"Come on walk with me."

She walked slowly with me out of the commons but whether that was due to reluctance or the heavy armor I wasn't sure. Not that it really mattered. I didn't exactly have a destination in mind, I just wanted to leave the busy cabin ring. I wanted to ask her about Luke but I figured I should start with an easier conversation pecs, so as we stepped onto one of the main walking paths I asked.

"How is your training going?"

She looked a little surprised,

"Uh good I think."

"Do you have a preference yet?"

"What do you mean?"

"You're taking both sword and knife fighting right?"

She nodded

"Have you gotten a feeling for which one you like better?"

"Kind of, I want to be good with the sword, it just gets heavy really fast."

I nodded,

"That's normal, as you get stronger it will get easier."

She nodded, glancing at the warhelm talked under my arm.

"That makes sense."

"How's knife fighting going?"

"Better than sword training. I've moved on past just the forms."

"Good."

"you're a knife and sword fighter, right?"

"Yes, I trained with both for a long time, though I am primarily a knife fighter. I didn't really take up swordplay until last year."

"So I have a question for you, do you think trying to learn both right now is a waste of time, like should I focus on just knife fighting until I'm stronger?"

"No, it's not a waste of time. I learned both at the same time as well. The difference is I have years of experience. If you just learn one thing you're going to be starting from scratch when you pick up the sword again, I think it's best to learn both, that way If you're ever in a pinch you've got a back up."

"Yea ok that makes sense."

"My turn for a question. How does your power work exactly?"

Sarah was quiet for a few steps, watching the ground as we walked.

"It's well I've always thought of it as the voice. Let's say I'm talking to someone and they say something that isn't true, the voice just speaks up in my head to call them out. The bigger the lie the louder the voice is."

"That's interesting, does it happen right away?"

"Most of the time Luke is the only."

She stopped and looked at me so I guessed.

"Luke is the only one that throws it off right?"

She nodded.

"When I first met him he told me he got his scar in a car crash about 30 seconds later it hit me that he lied. That had never happened before. The voice always said it instantaneously, basically talking over the person that had lied."

"That's the main thing I wanted to talk with you about. Don't take me wrong I'm not gonna tell you how to live your life or what choices to make. Just be careful around him, he's always been a good liar. More than that he's an excellent manipulator. He always has been."

"He's always been kind to me. Nothing at all like the guy you talked about in the telling."

"Let me guess he's kind, charismatic, helpful and nothing but supportive."

"Yea, how?"

"Always patient and easy-going?"

"How?"

"I knew Luke for a long time, and that was exactly his persona here at the camp. He was a HeadCounselors. He was a cool guy. Always looked out for his cabin and took the new kids under his wing. He was a good leader, inspired others, and trustworthy. Or so I thought. When Percy told us what happened in the woods that day, I didn't believe them until I got confirmation from the Dryad that saw it."

"I don't get it. He did so many terrible things. He never wanted to come back here after he told me about camp he tried to talk me out of wanting to go. But he took me anyways, he risked everything for me. And now, now I don't know what to do anymore."

I studied her face for a while, wondering if I ever looked that conflicted when the subject of Luke was brought up.

"I saw the way he looked at you during the meeting. He cares about you a lot. It's also true you're in a better position then…well you can tell when he's lying. Just please be careful and don't take everything he says at face value."

" What do you think I should do? He's given me specifically nothing to worry about but…"

"He has a history."

"Exactly! What would you do in my place?"

I laughed without humor.

"What you should do and what I would do are probably two very different things."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, no matter how many times he almost killed me or had me killed. I thought I could change him. You heard my story."

"Yea but, you did in a way."

"Maybe."

"What do you mean /maybe./ you definitely influenced his choice on Olympus and Luke told me that the Earth mother offered him a spot in her army, but he turned it down."

"Yea well Luke's father doesn't share your sentiment."

"You've met Hermes?"

"On numerous occasions, but that's besides the point. Maybe I did, maybe I didn't. Either way you have to choose whether or not to trust he is really turning over a new leaf. You don't have to choose right away."

I gestured at her armor.

"You can focus on getting through this first."

"Yea, umm can I ask what the decision was?"

"Luke is staying with us. He is to remain in the big house until further notes."

Relief washed over Sarah's face.

"Well in that case how can I make myself useful, instead of feeling like a waste of space."

I chuckled,

"You are about to learn the joy of border patrol. In between each century post there's a small group that travels up and down making Sure that everything is quiet at the border. It probably won't be too much longer until the relief comes, so after border patrol report to Will's cabin. I'm sure they'll find something for you to help with."

"Cool, sounds good to me."

"Great, well do you see that group of shiny people at the tree line?"

"Yea, they are kind of hard to miss."

"Well that should be your group, also don't think I've forgotten you have been claimed exactly. Once we take care of this mess I'll talk to Olympus."