The Battle for Olympus

Annabeth

Annabeth knew the answer. It was staring her on the face this entire time. But that couldn't be the answer, right? After everything they'd worked for?

Piper and Leo flicked cards at each other across the room, arguing about the best way to pull the fire alarm.

"Wear a rubber glove," Piper insisted, "the dye gets on the glove and you toss it in the trash. Problem solved!"

"Well yeah, but there are cameras. See, you have to run a loop through the camera, make it look like no one was there."

"Or you could just... wear a mask?"

Leo shook his head. "What's the fun in that? A loop is way better. Plus, you could edit it to make it look like the principal pulled the alarm."

"Have you actually done that?"

"You haven't?"

Piper punched Leo in the arm. "Do you really think I know how to do that?"

"Ouch!" Leo rubbed his arm. "I don't know, maybe you picked something up in one of your fancy private schools."

"Fancy private school?" Piper made air quotes around her words. "You mean our wilderness school?"

"The state paid for my attendance," Leo said, "that's not the same."

"Whatever." Piper looked up from her pile of cards. "Annabeth, are you making any progress?"

"I... I have thought. But no one's gonna like it."

"Well I'm sold," Leo said, hopping to his feet. "I love a good crazy plan." A couple strands of Leo's hair stuck up, like antennas. It reminded Annabeth of the central console on the Argo II. If everything had gone according to plan, Annabeth would be with Percy on that ship right now, not stuck in a Roman prison with no good options.

Piper sat next to Annabeth. "Right now, any plan is a good plan. Does it involve getting out of here?"

"Yes. However this goes down, we are getting out of here. And Leo, that's going to fall mostly on you, the romans don't know about your lock picking or fire powers, and we can use that to our advantage. But," Annabeth said, "if Reyna is on board, we won't need to."

"The suspense is killing me," Piper said, bumping Annabeth's shoulder. "Are you gonna tell us or what?"

Annabeth glanced at the clock. "Reyna said my deadline is noon today. So in about five minutes, I'll tell all three of you. I don't feel like repeating this."

Piper and Leo shared a glance, and Annabeth couldn't help but wonder if maybe they didn't fully trust her. She wouldn't blame them, she was actively scheming against their best friend, but she supposed they had no other choice but to trust her.

As if on cue, Reyna swept in, her purple cloak billowing at her side. "What do you have for me, Chase?"

Annabeth glanced up. "Do you ever not make a dramatic entrance?"

"Funny." Reyna closed the door behind her. "But actually, please tell me you have idea." Annabeth hadn't noticed it at first, but the bags under her eyes looked like bruises. She was pale, barely holding it together, Annabeth noted.

"I do. And you're gonna hate it."

"There are a lot of things I hate right now. Just tell me."

"Okay." Annabeth took a deep breath. "We have to unite the camps, right? That's the only way to defeat Gaea. But with all the bad blood between us, and the fact that we're natural enemies, that's obviously going to be a challenge."