Thorn In My Side

Pink Carnation

- i'll never forget you -

Katie looked around her, the head councillors looked serious, with an exception of the Stolls and Leo Valdez.

Annabeth sat at the end of the table, her gray eyes stormy. She had arrived last night and they were all waiting to hear the plan. "We still don't know where he is." Annabeth admitted, "But we will find him. There's still a chance..." Her voice trailed off, but Katie knew what she hadn't said aloud, there's still a chance he's still alive.

The daughter of Athena straightened in her chair, "We may not know where he is, but we have some ideas. Jason, care to enlighten us?"

"Absolutely." Jason Grace smiled and stood, "We know that I came from camp Jupiter, my memory was erased and I was sent here. I think... I think the same thing happened to Percy Jackson. He's out there somewhere... With no memory of his life.." He glanced at Annabeth who stifled a sob. She gestured at Jason to continve as she stood and began to pace. For a moment it was quiet, only the sounds of breathing and Annabeths footsteps filled the room, then Jason continued. "Since we can't find him it's safe to assume Juno, er Hera is hiding him until the time is right."

Annabeth balled her fists as she walked back and forth.

"His memory is probably gone and it's possible that he's being trained by Lupa as we speak."

"At the wolf house?" Piper questioned.

The son of Zeus nodded, "He has to prove himself, then she will send him on his way to camp Jupiter... I think he'll have to do some quest or something, to get his memory back."

"You mean... he could just be out there lost and alone?" Katie asked quietly.

"Well yes, but-"

"Couldn't we just go to the wolf house then?" Travis asked.

Jason grimaced, "I mean, we could try but the gods probably wouldn't allow it."

"Then search groups." Annabeth said, shehad stopped pacing and stood at the end of the table. Her shoulders were tense. "We can send out search groups, groups of two or three, too many and they might attract unwanted attention and we don't need anyone else to-" Her voice broke, but she cleared her throat and continued, "They'll go around and search for him."

People nodded and murmured in agreement.

"All across the country?" Clarisse asked sceptically.

"Yes."

The daughter of Ares shrugged and continued, "Who's going to go?"

"I'll go." A voice said from the shadows. Several people jumped, all heads turned to see Nico di Angelo in the corner of the room, his arms crossed. He looked angry, his eyes seemed to radiate a sense of hate. He didn't come any closer, just stayed there propped against the wall.

Annabeth nodded at him, "Alright."

Will Solace from Apollo cabin raised his hand slightly, "I can go with him."

Nico glared at him, "I work alone, William." The way he said Will's name made it sound like an insult, but the son of Apollo just smiled and shrugged, "Suit yourself."

After a moment of silence Annabeth continued, "I know Tyson wanted to help too and Grover."

* * *

That afternoon, Katie sat in her cabin, attempting to finish the applications. She sighed, this was so insanely boring. Katie picked up her tea and took a long sip, then she looked up to find the son of Hermes right in front of her, she dropped her tea and it spilt everywhere. Travis caught the teacup and grinned at her, "Whoops?"

She looked down at the mess he'd just caused and glared at him, "Do you know how long it's taken me to do these?" She started picking up the wet papers, trying to get them out of the way of the spill. Travis set the tea cup down, "Sorry. Can I get you paper towels or something?"

"At least use something environmentally friendly. That's the least you can do." She said, placing the papers in the sun from the window to dry. "Towels are under the bathroom sink."

Travis rushed to the bathroom and opened the door, then he looked back at Katie, "Um, Gardener, why is there a flower in your sink?"

"What?"

Travis found two towels and walked back over, handing them to her he said, "I mean I know you're the child of a plant goddess but the bathroom sink doesn't seem to be the best place for a flower to grow."

She rolled her eyes, assuming he was kidding. "It's an experiment." She said with a laugh, "Now help me get this stuff in the wash."

As as Katie tried to dry herself with the towel, she didn't have much success, Travis took the blankets off her bed and put them in the laundry basket.

She grabbed some clothes and her bag of toiletries and walked over to Travis, who was leaning against the wall out side the bathroom, next to the laundry basket. She was about to put her stuff down on the counter when she saw it, a pink carnation in the sink. Like all the other random flowers it was in a pile of dirt ready to be planted.

She turned around to find Travis in the bathroom doorway, "Told you so." He said nonchalantly. Katie shrugged and Travis chuckled, "You really don't trust me, do you?" He asked, as usual she ignored him. "I'm about to take a shower, was there a reason you came to talk to me other than to make a mess?"

"Um yeah, Annabeth is in the big house and she's helping with the applications. You said you'd be interested."

"Yeah, right I completely forgot. I'm going to take a quick shower, I'll be there in ten minutes."

Travis frowned, "You'll be late."

"Well I wouldn't be if someone hadn't startled me." And with that she closed the door.