Heroes with Wands

Chapter 15

Percy

"We're off to see the wizard school, the awesomest wizarding school of all," Leo sang. We were on Platform Nine and Three Quarters, getting ready to board the Hogwarts Express.

"Leo, I love you like a brother, but please, shut up," Piper said. He stuck his tongue out at her.

"Okay, are you all ready?" Mrs. Weasley asked. We nodded."Good, good. Send me an owl if you need anything, dears. I'm always here. Kingsley and I will be talking with Chiron, so don't worry about this quest too much. Have fun! I'll miss you all!"

She kissed our cheeks and we borarded the train. Myself, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, Leo, Frank, and Hazel took one compartment, while the wizards and their friends took the one behind us.

Ginny was outside our compartment talking to a boy with dark skin who reminded me of Beckendorf. She had her pink pigmy puff (this creature Fred and George sold her), Arnold, on her shoulder.

Luna Lovegood, one of their friends, was walking up and down the train aisle selling newspapers, called, 'The Quibbler.' Ginny took one, and her friend, who I assumed was Dean Thomas, kept on talking to her.

I closed the compartment door and sat on the edge of the seat next to Annabeth. Frank, Hazel, and Leo sat on the other side. Piper and Jason were smushed together next to my girlfriend.

She pulled the Athenian coin from her pocket. "It's so cold," she said. "We've passed the final step in the first series of directions. While I'm alone we'll get the next."

Leo peared at it. "Owl and an olive branch," he said. "That makes sense. What's the inscription, AOE? Are Of Effect?"

"Alpha, theta, epsilon," she explained. "It means, 'Of the Athenians.' I don't know what's going to be next. It has something to do with the one thing every child of Athena is frightened of."

"Spiders," I said. Her face turned printer-paper white, but she nodded. "I'm such an idiot for letting you do this on your own. I should be there for you. Gods, I feel like pegasus poop."

I covered her hand with mine. It was so cold I jerked away. "Gods of Olympus, you're frozen!"

Pulling back, she pressed the coin to my palms. So that's what frost bite feels like. "Percy, that's the thing; you can't be there for me. I've got to do this by myself."

I didn't want to belive it. I swallowed the white-hot lump of anger boiling up inside of me. I wasn't sure what I was angry at. Annabeth, Athena, the Mark, Gaea, the world, the gods.

"We've got to make a plan," I said. "Whether you like it or not, Annabeth, we're all a team. We work together. I know some of us are extremely annoying, and I know it's hard trusting one another-,"

Frank glanced at Leo sheepishly. Piper continued, "Percy's right-But whether we all like it or not, we're family. And family doesn't let family go on insane quests by themselves."

Annabeth smiled gratefully. Piper put her hand in the middle of the table. I put mine on top of hers. Then Jason. Then Hazel. Then Leo. Then Frank. All eyes turned to Annabeth. She inhaled sharply and put her hand on top of Frank's.

"We're family," Hazel said. "No family gets left behind."

Even without the godly-parent part, we were like a family. Annabeth had been like a sister to me before we realized we were in love.

As Leo would put it, aca-awkward.

Annabeth looked near tears. "I have to do this alone. I'm grateful to all of you for your help so far, but when we get to a certain point, nobody can help me anymore."