The Battle for Olympus

Annabeth

Piper was still asleep when Annabeth opened her eyes, her dark hair falling over her face and her wrist still shackled to the radiator. Leo was muttering something and tugging at his handcuff, but he wasn't making any progress. What was the point now? They were way too well guarded to think about escape again. They were so close, so heartbreakingly close just to be caught at the last second. Annabeth hoped Hazel was okay, but she couldn't imagine she was.

"Glad you're awake," Leo said glumly, sitting back down.

"I'm not." Annabeth pressed her hand to her forehead. "Any other crushing failures we need to reconcile?"

"Nope! We've officially hit rock bottom." Leo frowned. "And I thought rock bottom was sleeping in a sewer, but at least then I was the only one in trouble."

Annabeth smiled faintly. "You know, I ran away from home too. I know a thing or two about sleeping in sewers."

"Hmm. Name the nicest sewer you've slept in."

"Richmond. Construction site in a residential area." Annabeth tilted her head. "Wasn't hooked up yet. Yours?"

Leo laughed. "The second one I ever slept in. I was in Dallas. I stole a pizza from a vendor and ran down the first set of stairs I saw. Turned out it was an abandoned branch of the main system, even had a couple work coats down there. Spent a week before someone found me." Leo was silent for a moment. "The second best was with Piper and- and Jason."

At the mention of her name, Piper stirred. "What now?"

"We're talking about sleeping in sewers, beauty queen," Leo said. "Not something you'd understand."

Piper yawned. "Then don't let me stop you. The only sewer I slept in was-"

"Yeah!" Leo interrupted. "We know."

Piper rolled her eyes. "Are we not talking about Jason anymore? Because if we want to talk about Jason we can talk about how he threw six months of friendship out the window for revenge on a goddess, but hey! At least we can try to escape. Oh wait!"

"Piper..." Annabeth tried.

"Forget it." Piper flopped back down on her blanket that the guards had been kind enough to give them. They'd been moved to a new room, this one a lot more like a jail with metal walls and windows with bars. Ananbeth guessed they were on the ground floor, but it was hard to judge, especially since she couldn't get up and walk around.

She tugged experimentally at her handcuff, clinking it against the pipe running up the wall. No luck. Leo and Piper were still quiet, undoubtably thinking about Jason. And how could they not?

Annabeth cleared her throat. "How much do you guys know about Luke Castellan?"

Leo and Piper shared a look. "As much as the average new camper does I guess," Leo said.

Piper scuffed the floor with her shoe. "You knew him, right?"

"Yeah." Annabeth took a deep breath. "He was one of my closest friends. When I ran away from home, Luke found me. So did Thalia, Jason's sister. They kept me safe and got me to camp, but Thalia died doing so."

Leo cocked his head. "Wait, we met her though, right?"

"Well she didn't actually die, she just got turned into a pine tree."

"She what?"

"Long story. The point is, they were my family. So... when Luke betrayed us it hurt. Luke did the right thing in the end, but it nearly tore me apart." Annabeth sighed. "I guess my point is I think Jason will do the right thing. He does care about you."