❦𝓕𝓪𝓿𝓸𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓒𝓻𝓲𝓶𝓮❦ - 𝓟𝓮𝓻𝓬𝔂 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓴𝓼𝓸𝓷

𝐼. 𝒜 𝒟𝒶𝓎 𝐼𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐿𝒾𝒻𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝒫𝑒𝓇𝒸𝓎

𝒵𝑜𝑒'𝓈 school year had been going pretty well. She had worked on projects for MIT, finished her second year right before New Years, and was almost done with her third. Her and Pepper had done some quality bonding. They went shopping, did book club, complained about Tony, all fun things. Now that summer was about to start, Zoe and Tony had left for New York during the weekend. They figured they would spend a week in the city before Zoe went to camp. It didn't exactly work like that.

When the duo got to New York, they went back to the hotel. Tony went to his room and Zoe went to the next room that was connected to Tony's. The younger Stark went straight to bed, immediately being plagued by dreams. Camp's borders were failing, Thalia's tree was poisoned, everyone was in danger. The camp was dying.

As soon as Zoe woke up, she sent an IM to Annabeth. Zoe and Annabeth had planned to meet in New York but Annabeth had sent her an IM that the blond was going early. The brunette told the daughter of Athena which hotel she was staying at and her room number. Annabeth was knocking at the door fifteen minutes later.

"Oh my gods! Annie, are you ok?" Zoe asked as soon as she pulled the door open.

Annabeth's face was grimy and scratched. She had a ragged backpack slung over her shoulder, her baseball cap tucked in her pocket, a bronze knife in her hand, and a wild look in her storm-gray eyes, like she'd just been chased a thousand miles by ghosts.

The duo immediately embraced, the best friends not having seen each other for months excluding IMs.

"I'm ok," Annabeth said, breaking the hug. "Just a little scratch up."

Zoe raised her eyebrows, giving Annabeth a deadpan look. Annabeth grinned sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders.

"Go take a shower. You look like you just ran a marathon through the woods."

Annabeth headed towards the bathroom, grabbing spare clothes from her bag and then dropping the bag on the floor. A few minutes later, Annabeth came out with wet hair, and a fresh outfit on, her face grime-free.

"We have to get Percy. I've been having dreams about camp." Annabeth said as she sat on the bed.

"I only had one last night. I don't remember much, but something happened. Something big." Zoe ran her fingers through her hair.

The two sat in silence, trying to think of a plan when Zoe spoke up. "We tail him."

"What?" Annabeth looked at Zoe with a what the hell expression.

"One of us will use your invisibility cap, follow him throughout the day, and try and get him alone. His school ends tomorrow anyway, so we can-"

"How do you know when his school ends?" Annabeth interrupted.

"Not important. We'll follow him and then figure out a way back to Camp."

"Fine. But you are following him. No way in Hades am I doing that."

"Ok, ok, I'll follow him. I'm gonna need your hat though."

Annabeth rolled her eyes and begrudgingly handed it to Zoe. She took it and put it on the nightstand, then turned back to Annabeth.

"Now," the brunette said, clasping her hands together. "When was the last time you had a good cheeseburger?"

Annabeth rolled her eyes but grinned, standing up and heading towards the door. Zoe texted her dad to let him know about the change of plans, and left to get cheeseburgers for breakfast with Annie.

-------------------------

The next morning the girls were up and dressed by 6:30, checking out of the hotel by 6:45, and Zoe was climbing Percy's fire escape, getting to his window at 7 o'clock on the dot. Zoe had worn a lilac t-shirt with light washed jean shorts, a black backpack on her back, and her two hair clips/weapons in her hair.