How Do You Say Gods- Last Olympian

2 The Ties that Bind

Ooops, dear me, did that last chapter get cut off?

Ah, yes it did. My fault.

Is this a continuation of that chapter?

No.

PJOPJOPJOPJO

The Athena cabin was the most brightly lit in Camp.

Not Apollo's, whose kids spent to much of their time outdoors or they'd all kill each other. Their music got the best volume and audience down in the amphitheater anyways, and the others dispersed in the archery range or med bay or anywhere else they pleased, like flirting down at the lake. No, the sun god's cabin got the most warmth through the beautifully constructed windows, but the lights inside were rarely on.

The large gray cabin had every light in the house on, often times bright as the crack of dawn in the dead of night. Currently, with one lone occupant in its center. Her curly blonde hair was a tangled mess, her orange shirt was more wrinkled than her bloodshot eyes as she stared down at a test with a B- on it as if it held the answer to all her prayers.

The name at the top said Percy Jackson.

He'd kissed her goodnight with one of the proudest smiles she'd ever seen on his face. He'd been going on about mailing this to his mother and threatening Hermes himself if it didn't arrive, he didn't want to wait for winter break to end to show his mom.

It was just a mock test, they'd come to camp together that winter holiday teasing and laughing each other they wouldn't get anything done, but he'd sat dutifully beside her every day after training. She gave him the test verbally, and it turned out she'd found a very helpful way to encourage him to focus on his studies involving gummy worms.

She'd never seen him smile so bright when she swore on the Styx she hadn't curved the grade for him, that had been his work on that paper, and he'd looked at her and said, "maybe I should go back to slacking off," teasing and squeezing her hand. "I'm worried if this becomes a thing Wise Girl, you'll stop calling me Seaweed Brain."

"I wouldn't dream of it," she'd kissed him gently and promised they'd drive to New York to hand deliver it to his mother. They'd spend the whole drive bickering where they'd spend Christmas. With Sally and Paul, or here at Camp, or maybe even risk finally introducing Percy to her dad as her boyfriend...

There was a corkboard, books, maps, a full plate of food, and more books piled around her than even her mothers temples could imagine holding as she sat in the center. Her siblings must have been staying at the Big House or something after the last time she'd chucked her earrings like throwing stars at the door for Malcolm opening it with worried eyes on her. They were still embedded. Her gray eyes fractured as the fluttering of pages went unnoticed by her from where she'd hurled her last attempt to find an answer against the wall.

He hadn't shown up at breakfast, a worrying thing all its own...

Annabeth felt the presence of someone arriving, but she didn't take notice. If it was one of her siblings crawling through the window for their toothbrush or Chiron again to exchange plates of food and no new answers, they held nothing important for her.

His cabin had been spotless. His bed made, not a speck of dust in sight, the wrappers stacked in the bin rather than ringing it. Somebody had cleaned up.

She was alone again.

Don't do this to me, she wanted to scream in Zeus's face or the universe itself. Haven't I suffered enough?! Please, do not do this to me! I can't take anymore!

The best outcome was a quest, one so time sensitive he had to go before he could tell her, to save someone. The logical answer.

But she was only mortal. It had been to long. There was another solution to this.