Percy Jackson and the Dark Elites

I

Annabeth

Annabeth had woken up before the sun rose. The moon stood high in the sky and the stars twinkled on the water outside her cabin window.

She couldn't help but cock her head and look at the building adjacent to cabin 6, cabin 3. The seashells embedded into the side of the cabin reflected the light of the dark night sky, making the whole place appear like it was shimmering underwater.

She smiled faintly, her tired eyes threatening to close. Which was fine looking at such a sight. She would've fallen asleep but someone giggled loudly across the room.

Annabeth sat up and looked over the benches in the middle of the room and to the other wall. Her younger sister Abigail poked her head over the headboard.

Abigail dramatically blew a kiss and ducked under the covers. Stifling her laughter in a pillow.

Annabeth sighed. She was sure when she was seven that she would be making fun of her too; A seventeen-year-old girl peeking through her window at night to see her boyfriend. And she knew he slept with the covers drawn.

She rolled over and looked at the clock on her nightstand. 3:54.

It was so early it was agonizing. It had never been easy for her to fall asleep after waking up, the effort would tire her out more and her day would be even more miserable. She considered reading a book or taking a shower. Maybe those weren't the best ideas, she could wake her cabin-mates with the sound or light.

Softly she slipped out of bed. She pulled Percy's jacket out from her dresser and slipped it on over her pajamas.

She clutched the faded, black fabric in her hands. When they were fourteen the gods had a debate on whether or not they should kill her friends Thalia and Percy. In the end, they voted no, deciding it was pointless to delay the inevitable.

They threw a huge party to celebrate.

But Annabeth had shivered at the idea that her mom voted yes to end the lives of two people she cared about so much. At some point in the night, Percy slipped his jacket over her shoulders. By the time she'd turned around he had left. It was the subtle things he did so simply that made her fall for him.

It had been a little big on him then, very big on her, but she'd grown into it perfectly. Unfortunately, the smell of the sea had long faded from it.

Annabeth slipped on simple tennis shoes and got up to leave.

She had known for a while that after 2:30 the patrol harpies got bored and fell asleep. So she was free for a walk on the beach.

Abigail giggled again when Annabeth twisted the knob, probably thinking she was going out to see Percy. Annabeth dramatically returned the previously blown kiss and stepped out the door. Abby smiled and pulled her dark moon and star blanket over her head.

She shut the door quietly behind her and tiptoed off the porch. Annabeth crossed through the yard between the cabins rather than around them like she used to. Apparently, the campers could care less who was out at night. Unless it was the Stolls, her being out was no cause for alarm.

She found her way to the beach and kicked the sand as she walked. The cool air bit her nose playfully. Every time she sighed her breath could be seen as fog in the air.

The nights were cold now that the summer was almost over. Early July actually, but it was all happening a little too fast. She'd turn eighteen soon, then camp would end.

Annabeth had always debated how long she would stay for the summers after turning eighteen. Maybe it would be her last year, maybe it would be when she was twenty or twenty-five. It wouldn't be easy to leave a place she had called home for so long.