The World Apart (Percy Jackson)

Secret passage

Ever try falling asleep beside a snoring Cyclops? Then trust me when I say that it’s not an easy battle to fight. Most of the time, you’re just lying there with your blood-shot eyes staring at the ceiling and praying to every god you know hoping that your half-brother would keep it down a little. I was just about to carry my fatigue self down to Zephyros Greek and camp there for the night when an invisible hand shook me gently on the shoulder.

“Ahhhh!” I screamed like a little girl and nervously drew out Riptide. Instead of courageously fighting a monster from the pit of Tartarus, I stood dumbly facing a gorgeous young girl with familiar blonde hair and mysterious grey eyes; but don’t you dare tell her I said that.

“Oh my gods Percy, you should’ve seen the look on your face!” Annabeth giggled and rolled her eyes sarcastically as she took off her magic Yankee cap. Ugh, so much for the ultimate hero of Olympus.

“Gods, Annabeth, you have got to stop doing that!” I sighed and whispered with relief; there was no point trying to be mad at Annabeth, you’ll just end up liking her even more.

“Percy, I’m really worried about you; can we please talk?” Annabeth whispered and gave me her most convincing plead. Obviously, it worked on me; I mean, how could you say no to Annabeth of all people?

Under the faint moonlight, I gazed at Tyson’s snoring silhouette and sighed. “Come on Annabeth; let’s go elsewhere, I don’t want to wake up the big guy, he needs all the sleep he can get.” I took her by the hand and led her outside my cabin. Suddenly, my ADHD brain had a wonderful idea, a dangerously brilliant idea. 

“Annabeth, you wanna go to fireworks beach? We can talk there and besides, the water is beautiful this time of the year” I blurted out before I could control my deficit mouth. Silena and Beckendorf used to go there before, before they, ah you know what.   

“Oh my gods seaweed brain, I thought you’d never ask!” Annabeth laughed and ran off towards the river. Girls these days, one minute they’re trying to slice your head off and the next, it was as if it never happened. I sighed and ran off after her. Suddenly, the dark night was filled with a soft gasp that teared through my heart. I ran faster and faster into the dark forest and to my dismay, found Annabeth lying on the cold earth.  

“Annabeth, are you okay, are you hurt, gods what happened?” I drew out Riptide and shielded Annabeth from the mysterious enemy.

“It’s alright Percy; I only tripped over a pinecone you know, nothing to fret about.” Annabeth said lightly and quickly covered up her leg wound.  Slowly, she tried to get up, only to fully collapse against a pine tree.

“Annabeth dear, we’re never gonna make it to fireworks beach like this. You’re badly injured but why won’t you just admit that you need help?”  I said quietly and slowly began to lift her up.

“Gods Percy, what are you doing?” Annabeth said softy and blushed, hopefully, she was enjoying this.

“I plan on taking a faster and much safer route.” I whispered and dived head first into the freeing water with Annabeth in my arms.

I hoped my father’s protection covered little things like breathing and warmth for Annabeth. To be honest, I was really hoping to make a good impression after five years of plain stupidity. Luckily, Annabeth wasn’t showing any signs of deep-water drowning; so far, I was making good progress.

The icy cold water was one of the few things that could clear my dyslexia mind during these hard times; after all, the ocean is my home turf. I concentrated will all my heart for the water to heal Annabeth’s leg wound and to my surprise, they began to work their magic on Annabeth as if she was a daughter of Poseidon. I made a temporary note to myself to send Poseidon a father’s day present next year in appreciation for his generous assistance tonight.

Several minutes later, a feeling inside my head told me that we just arrived at the outskirts of Fireworks Beach. I quickly forced the lake currents to slow down as we made a stop for our destination. As I carefully lifted Annabeth out of the waters, I found to my greatest pleasure that Annabeth’s clothes were as dry as mine. 

“Well, not a bad way to travel huh?” I said nervous as I turned to the smiling girl. Thankfully, she didn’t scream like Grover did last time I took him out for a spin.

“Percy, being a half-blood really sucks sometime but I guess it was worth it because it brought me to you!” Annabeth said happily and hugged me giddily.

*

 “First things first Annabeth, let’s discuss why we’re here.” I lied down on the sandy beaches and yelp in surprise as a small crab began to tackle my dark hair.

“Percy, do you find this new prophecy even the slightest bit peculiar?” Annabeth sighed and began to untangle her messy blonde hair. “For nearly thousand years, there has never ever been a time when so many half-bloods were permitted to participate in a single prophecy.”

“Wait a minute Annabeth, the more the better right?” There I go with my famous ‘wait-a-minute’ introduction again.

“Ugh seaweed brain, don’t you understand, in all of ancient Greek history, only three heroes are allowed to return back to camp alive. That means that ten of us are going to die out there and with your bad luck, you’ll probably fall into some trap within the first ten minutes.” Annabeth yelled helplessly and broke into tearful sobs.

Suddenly, I put my arms around her shoulder and said dumbly, “It alright wise girl, there’s a first in everything.”