A Mortal Fool

The de Young Museum

Annabeth

We awoke to the sound of Piper banging on Percy's door.

"Rise and shine motherfuckers! It's time to plan our quest!" she yelled. Right. The quest. Finding the opal that could supposedly substitute for Apollo's powers. Fantastic. Not to mention, there was a possibility that it wasn't real. Hazel had pulled me to the side after we discussed the quest as a group.

"There are some things so old," she had said, "that even the gods forget they exist."

Which meant that if the opal wasn't real, we'd have to find something else. I'd been researching in my spare time, and it had been taking quite the toll on me. I skipped meals, the circles under my eyes darkening. When I came out of my room, it was out of necessity. Everyone was concerned, and they didn't hide it well.

"Well, Wise Girl, time to get back to demigod life, yeah?" Percy nudged my side, a forced half-smile on his face.

I sighed. "Unfortunately. Why is it always us, hm? Can't they make someone else do it? Goodness knows there are plenty of other demigods who'd kill for the chance to go on a quest." I massaged my neck and legs, which were stiff from spending the night on the floor.

Percy shrugged, pulling me to my feet. "We're just lucky, I guess. Or unlucky, depending on how you look at it."

I bit my lip, sighing. "I'll be the pessimist and say we're unlucky. Now, get ready Seaweed Brain, we've got a quest to plan."

Percy mock saluted me, sliding into the bathroom. I left his room, crossing over into mine.

As I turned on the shower, I sighed. I hadn't been looking forward to this quest, especially since we'd saved the god's asses already. Not once, but twice.

You'd think, after centuries of existence, they'd know how to handle themselves, instead of forcing little kids to do it. We weren't kids anymore, but we had been. Once. Back then, we dreamed for a chance to prove ourselves. Now, we wished that we could just be kids. Our childhood had been stolen from us, and all of us were resentful, no matter how much glory we got.

A bang on the door interrupted my irritation-fueled internal monologue. "Hurry it up Annabeth, they're waiting on you!" Pipers voice vanished as quickly as it came. Sighing, I turned the hot water off, dressing in a simple red sweater and baggy jeans. I practically had to drag my ass downstairs.

When I plopped down onto the couch, Hazel nodded tersely at me, and then spoke. "So, we've found a bunch of possible places where the opal could be. All of them, thankfully, in this town. Half of them are probably traps," she admitted grimly," but they're still worth a look." Inclining her head to me, Hazel leaned back on the couch, indicating that it was my turn to speak.

"Right, so a lot of them are located in museums. I think the de Young museum is a good one to start with. It's got some cool Greek statues and art going on, which could be a potential hint. We should probably stick together for this mission, though. I don't have a good feeling about going there with few people." I glanced around the room almost nervously, shifting my weight from leg to leg.

Frank was the first one to speak. "Yeah, that sounds smart. Aren't we going on a field trip there? It's next week, I think."

"Oh yeah, I remember that!" Jason said. "We'd just need some way to sneak away from the group during the trip."

"Well, we should be able to manage that." Hazel said. "I can try and cast illusions of ourselves so we can slip away. But I'd have to be there with the group the whole time, so I couldn't join you all." We all frowned slightly. It was no question that Hazel was one of the strongest among us. Losing her would be a detriment to the mission.

"I don't think we have a better plan." Leo spoke up suddenly. "Let's do it. All in favor?" We all raised our hands in unison. "Good then, it's unanimous." He rubbed his hands together, a devious smile spreading over his face. "Let's get to work bitches!"

Hi hello loves I am back with a new chapter! Thank you all for being so patient while I took my hiatus. Hope you enjoyed this chapter :)

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