ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀ ʙɪᴛᴇꜱ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴀʙᴇᴛʜ/ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ

ʟᴠɪɪ ᴘᴇʀᴄʏ | ʀᴀᴄʜᴇʟ ᴛʀɪᴇꜱ ᴛᴏ ɪᴍᴘᴀʟᴇ ᴘᴇᴏᴘʟᴇ ᴡɪᴛʜ ꜱᴀɪᴅ ꜰʟᴀᴍɪɴɢᴏ

Annabeth's alone watching Nico and Will fail miserably at dancing the Wobble. She's wearing a leather jacket over top of her singed bridesmaid dress, and a smirk paints her face. Her Yankees cap- her semi-invisibility cap- lays on the table next to her. Funny how these things work. Percy knew practically nothing about her at the beginning of the week; she changed so much in the past ten years, but now he's the only one who can see through her invisibility cap. Maybe that has something to do with their conversation in the pool yesterday, or maybe not. Maybe it doesn't even matter.

Percy's a little bit afraid to approach her. He almost passes her by to go shimmy with the others, but he decides it might be better to get this over with.

He pulls out a chair and takes a seat.

She raises her eyes to meet him, and gods, it's terrifying.

Sometimes people say Percy has a storm brewing in his eyes, and he's sure that's not a far-off comparison, considering he's the son of Poseidon, but Annabeth's eyes are something else entirely. They're fierce, and they have this look about them that says, "Do what I say or I'll kill you." There's a real storm brewing somewhere in there, and there's something nostalgic about it.

"You sittin' down or what?" Annabeth asks. "You're kind of staring me down and it's a little weird."

"Oh, right." Percy takes a seat. "How are you?" He's been asking that question a lot lately.

Annabeth shrugs. "I mean, I'm a crispy critter." She looks down at her shin, which is wrapped in a bandage. "Will's got it covered though."

Percy laughs. "'Crispy critter' is one way to put it."

She drinks some water. "But to actually answer your question, I'll be okay. It's weird, knowing that someone's tapping into my brain. You should be careful too."

"Annabeth, I don't even drink."

She raises an eyebrow. "That makes a lot of sense."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She chews on an ice cube, and ignores his question by asking another: "So what's next?"

"That depends," says Percy.

"On?"

Here goes nothing. "You."

Annabeth smirks. "Me?"

Percy puts the plane tickets from Frank on the table. "Europe, right?"

"That was so broad though. We don't even know what part of Europe they'll be at, and it's definitely a trap."

"If you don't wanna save the world, that's fine, but I'd rather have a partner," says Percy.

Annabeth sighs. "Listen, I just don't do the whole questing thing anymore. Isn't that kind of a teenager thing? I'm a grown-ass woman."

Yeah, she is, and Percy doesn't want anybody else on this trip with him. "C'mon, Wise Girl. It'll be fun. We liked Europe... kind of."

"The part where we went to hell was a little rough."

"Technically, Tartarus isn't Europe, so if you really think about it, Europe wasn't so bad," Percy jokes. "Besides, Frank gave me these tickets and he'll be kind of offended if we don't use them."

"Woah, woah, woah," says Annabeth. "You're asking me if I want to go on Frank and Hazel's honeymoon with you?"

"Well..." Percy starts. "Wait, are you just going to sit there and give me reasons why we shouldn't do this? Because to me, it sounds like you're afraid."