Heroes of Olympus: The Aftermath of War

ANNABETH

*Rick Riordan owns all of the characters*

ANNABETH DIDN'T EXPECT the goddess Artemis to appear in her dreams wearing a loud Hawaiian dress and a matching Hawaiian Lei like she was totally ready for summer in the midst of fall. The maiden put on regular Havaianas slippers complete with the design of a tiny Mauna Loa volcano. She was clearly in distress, her hair not as organized and her silver bow held lazily by one hand. Her dangerously sharp arrows were attached by a support, which she wore like a normal sling bag on her back.

Annabeth was definitely not in the mood for "Aloha!"

"Annabeth Chase," the goddess said, eyeing her warily. "You are much favored by your mother, the goddess Athena."

"Did she send for you, my lady?" she asked, unaware that her hands were shaking with nervousness.

"Oh, not at all." a smile curved from the corners of Artemis's unusually pale lips. "Gods do not do each other's bidding, demigod. We do as we like on our own."

"So," she responded, "You sent for me."

"Indeed," the goddess agreed. "I'd like to ask a favor. It's for my twin brother, Apollo."

Annabeth remembered Apollo, the god of prophecies and music, angering his father, Zeus, by blessing the then-pontifex Octavian, which had eventually led to a seriously life threatening version of 'Capture the Flag' back at camp. The war with Gaea was over, but it appears that the King of the Gods still held tight to his untamable wrath. What exactly did happen to Apollo after he was sent to Mount Olympus?

"I am worried, as you can imagine." the goddess continued, sighing. She had never seen Artemis become so...helpless. "Father has prevented me from helping Apollo directly in any way. And so, I am asking you." she stretched out her arms in a sort of welcome gesture. "What do you say, Annabeth Chase?"

For once in her demigod career, Annabeth was speechless. She was this close to achieving a perfectly normal teenage life with Percy, even if it did involve mad teachers like Caldimorf. She didn't want more quests. Not in a million years.

"Oh, it isn't a quest, my dear," Artemis reassured, possibly reading her thoughts. "You'll just have to watch after him before Meg McCaffrey arrives."

"Meg who?" she asked.

"Ah," the goddess waved her hands. "That won't be your concern anymore. Protect Apollo 'till Father calls him in Manhattan, okay?"

"Babysit him. You want us to babysit a god until he vanishes into Manhattan."

Artemis chuckled. "Basically, yes."

"Now wait a minute---" she burst out.

Poof.

The goddess vanished in clouds of smoke, and the bright, hopeful moon rose from the depths of Annabeth's godly dream.

-----------------

Annabeth woke up drooling on her pillow. Her dorm wasn't exactly big, but it wasn't small either. Bookshelves lined the walls with manuals, parchments, novels, and notebooks, which their various professors had claimed as necessary for learning. She didn't mind, though it did take a lot of space to handle. Both her and Percy's tuition fees were paid mysteriously by someone named Mr. D, and she had tried containing her laughter in front of the accountant, imagining a really drunk dude wearing a Party Ponies shirt jump right in and announce to be paying someone's school fees.

She was immune to anything beyond the point of 'normality' at this point. Annabeth had battled some annonyingly flirtatious empousai, ridiculously frightening titans, large, bad-breath giants, and, oh gods, she even tricked the enormous Mother Spider Arachne into her own webbed trap in facing life as another struggling ADHD kid. When a demigod is in Senior Year, surely, nothing would be so surprising as falling into the depths of Tartarus. Or receiving a dream from Artemis.

Right?

From her dorm's rectangular glass window viewing the center of the Big Apple, she saw Percy grinning and waving at her like some typical ADHD miracle guy aboard a really huge metal dragon which breathed fire. As if that could be totally sane to do. Her mouth gawked wide open before she could stop herself.

A dragon. On the Big Apple. With Percy.

Annabeth had trouble processing the information.

The son of Poseidon was accompanied by two other people, who both looked somewhere between 15, 16 or 17. The boy was a little small for his age. He wore a mechanic's uniform soaked with motor oil and sweat, his eyes dancing with excitement. He had black to brown to hazelnut colored hair, ruffled and pretty messy. He tried waving again, though Annabeth was too shocked to move. The girl was a bit goddess-like, with big curious eyes and mesmerizingly gorgeous caramel hair. She wore ripped jeans, a big plain white "NYC" shirt, a nasty black leather jacket, and travelling boots. Not exactly Annabeth's style, but she looked fine.

Until she realized...

"Thank goodness! Oh!...oh, Leo, you're alive!" she shouted enthusiastically, opening the window.