A Tale of Gods and Magic

Annabeth: The Finding Nemo Fanatic

Annabeth slid into a chair next to Piper at the table. She grabbed a bagel and munched it, trying to settle her nerves. Leo’s message in that baby voice? Eek! She had woken up and before common sense had come to her, started looking for one of the demigods strangling baby-Leo. Yeah, that was way before common sense kicked in. She really needed some coffee.

Most of the demigods filed in within the next ten minutes, each a different version of the “I literally just woke up oh my gods don’t talk to me right now” look. Well, except for Jason. He was rocking the “I am superman mwahahaha I govern all I am regal and would never dare walk out of my room with ruffled hair” look, which was the norm for him. Annabeth didn’t understand how Piper dealt with him. Sure, Percy had his problems (Finding Nemo? Cool. Watching Finding Nemo 200+ times with your boyfriend? Kill me now), but he always had a sense of humor and a friendly disregard for rules. Annabeth never knew exactly what she’d expect from time spent with Percy. One time, a coffee date had turned into a deep-sea dive in the harbor. Another time, their walk in the park had gotten sidetracked by a candy shop that had blue jelly beans. Percy had spent the rest of the afternoon trying to fish that one blue jelly bean out of the jar. Okay, maybe he had been on a sugar high, but that was beside the point.

Before Annabeth could reach a cup of coffee and silence her trip down memory lane, a dark shadow enveloped the room. The demigods’ chattering went silent. Nico entered the room. If Annabeth looked closely enough, she could see a dark cloud of shadows following him. It wasn’t anything abnormal, though. After all that shadow-traveling to get the Athena Parthenon back to camp, Nico had always looked paler…. and had more shadows following him. They seemed to want to grab him and drag him away to the Underworld and-

The shadows were cut short as another presence entered the room.

Will Solace.

“Hey, dudes,” said Will. He put an arm around Nico’s aviator-jacket-covered shoulders. Nico let it stay there for a moment longer than he usually would’ve before shaking it off. Will subtly rolled his eyes. Apparently, it was subtle enough for Nico. He stomped to a chair at the end of the table. The only chair left was the one next to Nico, so Will awkwardly sat himself down. The whole drama played out in front of the others, blanketed with silence.

“Um… I think awkward silence is an understatement,” said Leo, but without any of the enthusiasm he usually put into his jokes. He looked awfully jittery and his orange Camp Half-Blood t-shirt brought out the nervous pink in his cheeks. Will stuffed a peanut-butter smothered waffle into his mouth.

Nico stared at him in horror.

“Whut? I wike pewnut bewter! Wit’s gewd for da sowl!” Will’s words were slurred. Nico raised an eyebrow, a look he must’ve spent hours perfecting in the mirror. Annabeth asked Piper to hand her the maple syrup and then after a moment of prolonged silence, the demigods started talking again. After about fifteen minutes, Leo cleared his throat and stood up on his chair. Jason groaned and adjusted his glasses.

“What?” asked Leo with the ferociousity that only short boys with curly hair have. Jason looked taken aback.

“Nothing, dude. Just ready for some sightseeing. When are we going to get to Ogygia II anyway?” He curled his fingers around the hem of his Superman shirt. Annabeth almost laughed out loud at the irony. Mr. Roman Superman in a Superman t-shirt.

“In five minutes,” said Percy promptly. Everyone turned and stared. Leo grimaced, upset that the boys had stolen his thunder.

“How would you know?” asked Jason, challenging.

“I’m a son of Poseidon, superman. I know exactly where we are right now. It’s like I said: five minutes from Ogygia II.” He crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair.

“You mean…. we’re on water right now?” Hazel pushed her chair back with a loud screech.

“Hey, hey! I spent about four hours lacquering the ground!” But the words were lost on Hazel who ran out of the room. Frank shrugged and loped after her.

Leo rolled his eyes so much that Annabeth thought they’d pop out of his head. He snapped his fingers and the back wall of the room turned into a view of salty water.

“Thanks for that, Percy. Yes, this is a window and yes, we’re on the water. Now, for my announcement that is way more impor-”

“I SEE IT!” yelled Piper, like she’d found lost pirate treasure, or better, a shop full of multicolored hair feathers. Annabeth put her hand to her ear. Piper had practically blasted her eardrum. Percy rushed to the window.

“Land ho,” he said. “You’ll get a better view from the caboose.”

“Ooh, shiny,” said Will. He rushed out of the room and Nico followed. So did Piper, and Mr. Roman Superman went dutifully behind her. Now only Percy, Annabeth, the Stolls, and Leo were left in the room.

“So much for my announcement,” Leo scoffed.

“What was it about?” asked Percy, turning away from the window.

“Oh, nothing big, amigos. Hecate has been captured.” Annabeth who had been quiet for so long stood up like the rest of the demigods had.

“Gods, can’t we ever get a break?” muttered Percy.

“I think yesterday was,” said Annabeth. “Hero time,” she said.

“What what!” said Leo.

Annabeth looked to the Stolls but-

Oh, no. Where were they?