Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Malcolm looked at me expectantly, and I realized that he probably wanted me to help him out. Being the head counselor of the Athena cabin, I usually had my way. It was no surprise that they all moved away  when I told them to leave Malcolm alone. 

Malcolm wasted no time in ripping open the tissue paper, uncovering a small bronze shield. My heart soared with pride. It was the magical video shield I had Beckendorf make a few days ago.

I snatched the shield away from Malcolm, and he let out an indignant "Hey!". I ignored him and touched the shield's smooth surface. 

"Jake came in and delivered it," Malcolm said. "He said that it just finished cooling. I don't know why he wrapped it though. Nice touch."

I smirked. I couldn't imagine Jake, a Hephaestus kid, wrapping up a shield with pink tissue paper.

"What is that?" asked a small voice. I turned around to see that it was one of my younger siblings, a girl with long golden hair named Mileva.

Mileva was seven years old, the same age as when I came to camp. She didn't have to run away to get here, though. Her dad had died during a college shooting, where he was a professor at, and Mileva was taken to an orphanage straight away, at the age of four, where a mortal family had adopted her at once. Grover found her last year in Philadelphia. After explaining things to her mortal parents, which wasn't easy, she was brought to camp at once.

I tousled her hair. "This, Mileva, is one of the inventions of Daedalus! You've learned about him, right?" She nodded eagerly.

"Well," I said, "this shield bends the sunlight or moonlight from anywhere in the world to create a reflection. You can see anything that's in the natural sunlight or moonlight. Make sense?"

She nodded again. "So does that mean I can see my real dad from here?"

Oh boy. I didn't know what to say about that one. Luckily, one of my other siblings, Livia, answered that one for me.

"No, but you know what you can see? You can see Disney World! Do you want to see?" Livia grabbed the shield from me and concentrated on the place where dreams came true. The image of the trademark Disney castle appeared and Mileva clapped her hands with excitement.

I sighed with relief. That was a close one. What if I had to explain to Mileva that she would never see her father again?  No thanks. 

I beckoned for Livia to hand over the shield. She dutifully did so, but I felt bad that I was taking all of the control. "Sorry guys," I said, smiling cheekily, "You can all play with it after I'm done."

They all walked away, sulking. I hated being the bad guy (not really), but there were more important matters.

As much as I tried not to think about Percy, he sometimes slipped through the defenses in my brain. That's what happened after Beckendorf mentioned him with Rachel. Thinking about him sent my thoughts into a frenzy. Nothing was ever clear. I didn't even know how I felt about him. Sometimes I felt like I wanted to keep him as close as possible, but sometimes I felt like the only way I could live was by keeping myself distant. I didn't want to get myself hurt. I had seen enough failed relationships to know that it was hardly worth keeping one at all. When Rachel got involved, I began to feel like I was losing him. I didn't want that. But I didn't want to let my guard down at the same time. What would happen if I told him I wanted him and he wanted Rachel? 

And then there was Luke. My feelings toward him were mixed, too. I mean, sure, he was hosting Kronos. But did that mean he couldn't be saved? I had pictured us being happy together for so long that it was hard to let him go.