Last Hope (Percy Jackson) ON HOLD

Despair (Chapter 3)

A Year After The Giants War (First Person POV)

Things have changed since then. The Gods rarely opened up to their children, only communicating through signals. Olympus became restricted, the only way to go there is if you are involved in Olympian "business". So much for that change last year.

I was surprised at the amount of stuff that has happened since I was 12 years old and first arrived here. I remember when Chiron first found me with Ms. Dodds. Memories, wonderful.

I have come along way and I haven't even reached 20, so I guess anything can happen. That's a good thing right? You know, I never thought I would use that cliché, so good on me.

Onto some real news. I finally found someone who can be a hero. John Loth, a newer camper who was actually quite skilled, possibly as good as me. Instead of a sword, he favored an axe. He was a son of Zeus ironically. Many found it funny a son of Poseidon training a son of Zeus, but it was fine. John was 17, like me. He was slightly shorter, had light blue eyes that glinted, and a brown cut hair.

Surprisingly, he was a strategist, he favored more on intelligence than physical strength. He only used the axe because of the false image, as many enemies will assume he is a slow brute, when he is in fact fast and agile.

He was debatably as smart as Annabeth, but not smart as in knowledge and wisdom, but in strategy and planning. He was the perfect image of a hero, and hopefully he becomes one. However, I knew he had flaws. He had attempted flirting with Annabeth when he first arrived, not knowing I was her boyfriend yet. He apologized later on, but he spent a lot of his time showing off to the other cabins how great he was.

I told him a hero must be modest, and how boasting can be fatal. I don't know if he really got the message. He was quite popular with the Ares cabin, often dueling with each other.

I was convinced he was the next Hero. Whatever prophecy comes next, I am sure he can do it.

We trained in secret, well, not really, but the others didn't know about me training John, and they assumed he was just naturally skilled. He even managed to last 2 minutes against Jason. He managed to learn some of his abilities early, and is able to use magic decently.

The day came when John set out on his first quest, thankfully there was no prophecy, Zeus had asked him to retrieve an apple from the Garden of Hesperides. He was allowed to take 1 other person with him. He chose Annabeth, which made sense as she was probably the only person able to figure out how to defeat Ladon.

I was happy when they arrived back in one piece, but what caught my eye was the fact that Annabeth was...holding hands with John. After Camp celebrated their return, I met up with Annabeth. The Seven were all at Camp for this celebration, so the gang were all here.

"Annabeth, why were you holding John's hand?" I asked her. She actually blushed, which made me nervous, and she looked at me.

It struck me as particularly strange because Annabeth had always been a shy girl. I thought maybe something must have happened on their quest to cause her to open up to John. It certainly took a while for me to become familiar with her.

"Well, we were just very happy about making it back. We almost died, I was just caught up in the moment. Percy, why are you being so protective?" She said.

"I just wanted to be sure, I mean, uh." I replied intelligently. Annabeth crossed her arms in a strict manner.

"Percy, quit being jealous of John, he is a good guy. The spotlight can't always be on you, you know." She scolded. I inwardly winced.

I could swear there was something going on with her lately, it was as if she were changing as a person, and not in a good way.

"Uh, yeah, I know." I said as Annabeth walked off to her cabin, not even looking at me. What happened on that quest? I shrugged it off, Annabeth usually knows best.