Annabeth's Point of View

The Battle of the Labyrinth - Plans Ruined

I've been planning this day for at least a week. For the first time in forever, Percy and I were going to have some normal teenage fun with extra butter in our popcorn and large sodas with free refills. I knew I was going to regret all the junk food when I went back to camp, but for the moment it would be fun.

The day was shining and the air was warm. Taking a deep breath, I could smell summer filling every molecule in the air.

I wasn't sure which I was more giddy about. Spending an entire day with Percy in a sort-of date that could hopefully end with him getting a clue, or just the fact that I would have an entire day off from monsters. Not that the monster slaughtering wasn't fun, but sometimes the days flew by so quickly that I didn't even realize whether it was Tuesday or Friday. I would love to live every second of the day, just once.

I was so deep in my own peaceful musings that I almost didn't notice Percy tumbling right by me. He looked different from when I left him. Last summer I had grown taller than him, so tall that he hadn't even wanted to dance with me. Now I had to tilt my chin up slightly to see his face, and the sun had made his skin turn healthily tan. His black hair was windswept, like he spent his days sitting in front of a fan, and his sea green eyes were wild with adrenaline. He was more handsome now, but it was the familiarities that I seen in his features that made me smile.

He would have charged into the street if I hadn't have saved his butt by grabbing both of his shoulders. Once again, the familiar sequence of things sent a bubble of happiness through me. I'd missed him, that was for sure.

“Hey, you're out early!” I told him, though secretly delighted. “Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain.”

He was dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans. Clothes that were appropriate for the stupid orientation of his newest school, but also appropriate for a fun afternoon at the movies. My smile widened, and for a moment, his lips twitched up to smile back.

But then it was ruined when she came sprinting toward us.

“Percy, wait up!” the girl called, her voice sounding panicked yet comfortable.

She was extremely pretty. Unlike Aphrodite's daughters, she didn't have the strange, glimmering aura around her that screamed enchanting, or a perfect body or whatever. Her fiery red hair was curly and up to her chins, so thick it resembled a lion's mane; she had large, forest green eyes, full red lips, and a nice peach skin-tone. Pretty and normal; those were the first words that popped into my head when I saw her. She was a mortal and she knew Percy.

For the first time, I registered that smoke was mixing in with the summer air. Behind the mortal girl, Percy's newest school was emitting dark smoke.

I looked at Percy and frowned. “What did you do this time? And who is this?”

Percy glanced behind himself at the girl who jogged up to us, her small red curls escaping their clip. She looked a little ruffled, and covered in monster dust. I tried to hold in my delight and jealousy; delight because she was dirty, but jealousy because I knew Percy was fighting a monster with the help of someone else. I tried to ignore the second feeling more furiously.

“Oh, Rachel – Annabeth. Annabeth – Rachel. Um, she's a friend, I guess.”

“Hi,” Rachel said to me, before turning her back and facing Percy, as though I wasn't even there. With no explanation, she began to yell at him. “You are in so much trouble. And you still owe me an explanation!”

And suddenly, the perfect afternoon sort-of date I planned with Percy evaporated. The hopes of Jackson finally getting a clue disappeared with it. Police sirens wailed, echoing my thoughts, and it was time to leave.

“Percy,” my voice came out colder than I had meant, but it separated the two from their 'private' conversation. “We should go.”

I began to walk away.

“I want to know more about half-bloods,” the mortal girl whined. Anger boiled hot and alive through my veins. “And monsters. And this stuff about the gods.” And, unbelievably, she grabbed Percy as though they had known each other forever, whipped out a permanent marker, and wrote her cell phone number on him. “You're going to call me and explain, okay? You owe me that. Now get going.”

“But-”

“I'll make up some story,” the mortal girl smiled, as though lying were natural and easy for her. “I'll tell them it wasn't your fault. Just go!”

The girl turned and jogged back to the school, not even bothering to acknowledge my presence. Her eyes were all over Percy, who she didn't even know, who was supposed to be taking me to the movies. But instead we had to run and hide from people wanting to harm us, again. If I was true to myself, that wasn't what was really bothering me, but I focused on it, because the honest reason hurt more.

“Hey!” Percy jogged up to me. “There were these to empousai. They were cheerleaders, see, and they said camp was going to burn, and-”

“You told a mortal about half-bloods?” I asked scathingly. I couldn't help my tone, he was just so dumb. The point of the Mist was to hide any of the 'Greek myths' from the eyes of normal, ignorant mortals like that girl; keeping it all a secret from them was like a number one, obvious rule. Leave it to Percy to be the only demigod who wasn't aware.

“She can see through the Mist. She saw the monsters before I did,” Percy insisted. I felt a pang of annoyance. So normal girl isn't so normal after all, I thought sarcastically.

“So you told her the truth?” I demanded.

“She recognized me from Hoover Dam, so-”

“You've met her before?” I knew about Hoover Dam. The one quest me and Percy hadn't been together on.

“Um, last winter. But seriously, I barely know her.” The tightness in my chest released a little. Percy and I knew each other since we were twelve, we've saved each other's butts more times than I can count and through all of that we've created a bond that could not be broken. The mortal girl was just a weirdo amongst the ordinaries.

“She's kind of cute,” I said, peeking sideways at him.

He looked floundered, probably not even understanding what was going on. “I – I never thought about it... I'll deal with the school. Honest, it'll be fine.” He said it like I cared about it.

“I guess our afternoon is off,” the sound of police sirens finalized this. “We should get you out of here, now that the police will be searching for you.”

“You're right,” Percy said, looking sort of sad – or was it anxious? The fact that I didn't know which cut me deep. Maybe I didn't know Percy as well as I thought I did. “We have to get to Camp Half-Blood. Now.”