Too Many Memories

It Rains Men

It Rains Men

Reluctantly, I left Percy and joined the throng of Amazons and campers heading up to the pavilion for dinner. Percy saw us standing there awkwardly, clapped his hands, and a table large enough for all of the Amazons appeared next to his team's table. There was a spot "reserved" for me, placed so that my back would be facing Percy's. Coincidence? I think not.

I chuckled as I sat down. "Way to be inconspicuous, Percy."

He grinned as he picked up his food--which was blue--and walked over to the braziers. I did the same and a few of the Greek Amazons followed my lead and we dumped a portion of our food into the fires for our parents.

We sat back down, Percy purposely leaning back to touch my back, and finished eating. The air all around camp was cheery and happy, mostly because of the "dead" heroes present. They knew that it wasn't for a simple visit, but they didn't know the reason.

After we finished eating, we ran to the campfire. Then Chiron made the announcement and the cheery mood disappeared faster than you could say "Cerberus."

"Campers, I know you are wondering why the Amazons along with Percy and his team are here. I wish I could tell you that they are here for a friendly visit, but alas, that is not the case. I can't keep the truth from you for long, so I may as well say it.

"Gaea is awakening, and we cannot stop her. She has already progressed too much, at this point we will only delay her rise. She will inevitably try to overthrow the Olympians, and we are here to stop that from happening. Olympus has been closed, some of you may have noticed Mr. D's absence. We must do this alone, Gaea will most certainly attack us here at camp. Even asleep, she knows what we have done and will know that we will try to stop her. She will try to get rid of us, we cannot let that happen.

"Two years ago, Chaos sent his elite team of demigods and former-Hesperides that became Primordials to help us when Tartarus tried to take over, and we prevailed with the loss a few campers, a member of Chaos' team, and Chaos himself. I have been told that Chaos didn't completely die, but he lost his powers and only chooses to appear to one person. Percy Jackson. Who, in fact, became the new Chaos." At that Chiron stepped back and Percy walked to the front of the crowd.

"Gee, Chiron. Thanks for making me not feel important. But, yeah. I'm Percy Jackson. I'm really not that impressive."

I shook my head at him. He was still my modest Seaweed Brain. I half-listened to him explain more about Gaea's threat, but not completely, seeing as how Chiron had already told me everything. He finished up and Chiron dismissed everyone to bed.

When I reached the Amazon's cabin, I fell face-first into my bed and closed my eyes. Sleep came quickly. The last thing I heard was Percy whispering in my head.

Sweet dreams, Wise Girl.

When I woke up, Tansy and Tammy sat next to me and I heard curses, shouts, and groans coming from outside. The cabin was empty except for us three. I immediately narrowed my eyes at them and threw off the covers. I stood up and grabbed my dagger, but they blocked my path to the door.

"What did you do?" I pointed my dagger under Tammy's chin, who was directly in front of me. I glared at Tansy, daring her to do anything. She gulped and clutched Tammy's arm, her daughter of Hecate thing acting up and making me think that I had my back to the door. Tammy was using her daughter of Demeter powers to make a few plants sprout and keep my legs from moving.

I kept my gaze on the both of them while I cut the vines from my legs. "What. Did. You. Do?" Both of the Amazons leaned back at my fierce glare.

"Cute story, actually." Tammy laughed nervously and twisted her fingers. "Um, well. You see." She continued to stall.

"Spit. It. Out. Or. I. Will. Make. You."

"Okay, okay!" She held her palms up in surrender. "Please don't kill me." Tammy squeaked quietly after. "So, all of us Amazons kind of got mad at all of the guys here. They kept trying to hit on us, and to get in here to see you while you slept, so uh . . . we kind of tied them upside down to the trees. They're lucky Percy didn't see them trying to get in here." She grinned as if that would make it better.

"What? Why would you do that? I don't care what they did, just walk away and ignore them. Come with me, right now!" I grabbed the both of them by their ears and dragged them outside. A horrifying sight greeted me.

Every male camper--not Percy's team or Chiron, just the campers--was tied by thick ropes to the trunks of the many trees in the woods. They were cursing and wriggling, trying to get free. The Apollo boys had actually cursed some of the Amazons, so they were rhyming like the Ares children had been so long ago.

Travis and Connor were tied next to each other and shifting an object around in their hands--I didn't want to know what it would do.

The Amazons watching them noticed me and lowered their heads. "Release them, immediately! And apologize to every single one!" I growled and the quickly obeyed. Although, not how I wanted.

Instead of slowly and carefully getting each one down, they cut the ropes and let them fall on their heads. Unfortunately, they had been tied high up on the trees and unlucky demigods were squashed in their descent. It was like it was raining men.

I shook my head at the Amazons as I helped the males get up and go to the infirmary if needed. "I'll be talking to all of you later." They grimaced in unison and backed away, ashamed. I sighed and walked up to Thalia's tree after it had all been cleared up.

A shadow appeared on the ground in front of me, seemingly out of nowhere. "Who knew it would take that long to battle darkness?" A familiar voice said.

I spun around. "Nico!" I jumped forward and hugged him tightly.

He laughed, "Nice to see you too, Annabeth. What do you think of the new Primordial of Darkness?"

"He's awesome." I chuckled with him and sent him off to find Percy. I traced my fingers over Thalia's tree and scratched Peleus's chin. I looked over the valley of strawberries and hoped that we would finally get a break after this war was over. I was in dire need of a decade long vacation.