Letters of Love: A Percabeth story

Chapter 5

“I CAN’T BELIEVE THEM! First, I have to worry about those letters, and now THIS??” I was shouting to Thalia, who sat with a cool expression on her face.

“Annabeth-“

“I mean, I don’t even know where to find my stuff, whatever they took, and they’re talking about kissing people and Percy-“

“Your baseball cap.”

I froze.

“What. Did. You. Say?” I choked out. Thalia sighed.

“They took your invisibility cap.” I sat down hard on my bed, and put my head in my hands, letting out a low moan of defeat. “That’s it. We’re not doing this. We can’t do this.” I looked up at Thalia and jumped at the determined expression in her eyes.

“Annabeth Chase, there is no way I’m letting you back out of this. Besides,” she said, “I delivered the letter while you guys were eating.”

I was so overwhelmed by everything happening at this point that nothing else could shock me. “Okay, great. At least there was no risk that he could see you,” I muttered thoughtfully.

My nerves calmed down, and I began to think. I guess I was glad that Thalia had already placed the letter in Percy’s cabin, because now I definitely had to go through with it. There was no point in being a coward. And this Aphrodite challenge? I was not going to let it get the best of me. I was a daughter of Athena, and Athena ALWAYS had a plan.

“First things first: who do you think has my cap?” I asked Thalia, ready to strategize. She frowned, thinking. “Honestly? Percy, probably. You know those Aphrodite kids…” She trailed off. Ugh, of course they would want to pair up Percy and I. “Great,” I muttered. “And how do you think I’ll be able to actually get my cap back? I definitely think Drew’s going to let it go with a friendly handshake, don’t you?” I said sarcastically. Thalia began to grin a little bit. “I’m pretty sure that bit about kissing… was meant for you and Percy to hear.”

I thought back to how Percy had stiffened when Drew announced the challenge. He had looked positively terrified. But why? He was Mr. Smooth, the guy who saved Olympus multiple times. He made girls blush and throw their numbers at him. He could charm anyone. I would have thought he might be excited for this challenge. But he had looked exactly the opposite. For once I, the Athena girl, was out of explanations.

“Okay. So, what’s your plan for all of this?” Thalia inquired. I set my shoulders and looked at her.

“We follow through with this insane plan of yours, and we find my cap without doing anything too embarrassing,” I said firmly. Then I smiled at Thalia and winked.

“Don’t worry- Wise Girl’s got a plan for this. I’m calling it Operation Braincap.”