Annabeth Chase and the Last Olympian

Chapter 3

Chapter 3 

​I sat there, by the sand, my head in my hands, thinking, How did this happen? How did I fall in love with my best friend?

​I guess I had always kind of known the fact. I just never really thought about it. Every time the bizarre idea popped into my head, I pushed it away. I thought of it as putting a guard up, shielding me from being hurt. But really, I was shielding myself from my own feelings. Aphrodite's visit showcased my real feelings, feelings that I had but I didn't know myself. You could say I was a little embarrassed.

​"Oh, don't be, Annabeth," said Aphrodite, snapping me out of my trance. "There's no need to be embarrassed of your feelings."

​I looked up at her. She nodded, and then looked at her Gucci watch. "But I really must get going, my dear. You do understand what we have discussed today, have you not?" she asked, her eyebrows scrunched up together, still looking exactly like a female version of Percy. I nodded. 

​"Good, good. Then my work here is done." She twirled around, dissolving into pink mist, which turned out to be designer perfume. I coughed and rubbed my eyes. I shook my head a few times to get rid of the stench. I looked up at the sky, and judging by the sun's position, it was close to midday. Maybe ten o'clock. I hastily got up and wiped the sand off my shorts. How long was I with Aphrodite?

​Thankfully, not very long. As I walked into my cabin, no one gave me strange looks or anything. Probably because they were still as busy as ever. I sat at my bunk and pulled out Daedalus' laptop from my bag. When I opened it up, some program was already running, which was weird since I thought that I had turned it off. I shrugged it off and decided to start up where I left off. I scanned the page, which was titled Command Sequence: Daedalus 23. Curious, because I didn't even remember opening the page, I began to scroll through the document. Before I could even start reading the important part, the clear sound of a conch horn permeated through all of Camp Half-Blood.

The conch horn was sounded only when something important was happening. In this case, I was sure that it was signaling the arrival of Percy and Beckendorf. I had almost forgotten my worry in the presence of Aphrodite, but it hit me with full force as I shut my laptop. 

​My mind went blank. I rushed out of my cabin, with a single thought on my mind. Percy. I sprinted all the way to the dinner pavilion, pushing anyone who came in my way. I had to see Percy. Now.

I caught up with Chiron, almost knocking into him, but I don't think that he noticed. Percy was standing there, at the top of the hill. His bright green eyes didn't seem so bright at the moment. Instead of resembling calm ocean waters, his eyes resembled a hurricane brewing. He wasn't in a good mood, that was for sure. But then I realized we had another problem. Where was Beckendorf?

I grabbed Percy's arm, goosebumps running up and down my arm. "What happened?" I asked.

"The ship blew up," he said, not meeting my eyes. "He wasn't destroyed. I don't know where-"  

Right then, Silena pushed her way through the crowd. She looked around, her eyes wide.

"Where's Charlie?" she demanded, scanning the crowd.

I glanced at Percy, hoping for an answer. Percy looked at Chiron helplessly. Chiron cleared his throat. "Silena, my dear, let's talk about this at the Big House -"

"No," she muttered. "No. No." She started to cry, and my worst fears had been confirmed. Beckendorf wasn't coming back. Ever.

Mileva wrapped her small arms around my waist. "Annabeth? What's going on? Why is she crying?"

I looked down at her innocent face, her big, grey eyes. I hated that she had to experience such awful things at such a young age. "We just lost a camper, Mileva," I said, absentmindedly stroking her hair.