She couldn't believe the gods had sent her on this wild goose chase. For years, Annabeth had searched for this "magic lamp" that would bind Kronos in Tartarus forever and end this long war. She had lost her fist love, Luke, in this war so she was willing to chase after this mythical object at first, but now... it had been 5 years of searching and fighting and no luck.
Annabeth was standing on a sandy beach by the Mediterranean Sea, holding two pieces of an amulet. She had gone through so much to find these two trinkets that if they didn't work, the gods would need to forget Kronos and worry about what Annabeth might do to them.
Click. Annabeth was holding a now glowing amulet. It lurched out of her hands and flew straight into the sea. Plop. The water rippled a bit. Annabeth took a step forward in anticipation...
Nothing happened.
"ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?!? I SPENT THE LAST FIVE YEARS SEARCHING FOR THIS PIECE OF —" This next bit of dialogue was left out as some extremely strong language was used by our beloved, yet frustrated heroine.
While Annabeth swore and cursed the gods, a huge wave rose up in the Sea, blocking out the full moon that was shining. Annabeth turned her attention to the water just in time to see the sea separate to create an opening in the wave.
"Well, I guess I've got nothing to loose," Annabeth said under her breath, then sprinted into the opening.
The opening closed directly behind her, leaving Annabeth in an underwater tunnel leading deep into the sea. It seemed to go on forever as she walked down the odd undersea path. The water formed a perfect arch a over her, and Annabeth always had light from the moon to guide her.
She couldn't tell how much time passed, it could have been 10 minutes or 5 hours, but Annabeth started to hear a strange noise coming from the direction she came. The faint noise became a roaring, and as she turned around, a wall of rushing sea water collided with her and whisked her away.
This is going to be how I die. I see the water open up, and like an idiot I jump in to drown, Annabeth thought.
She held her breath as long as she could and just as she was going to give in to the temptation to breathe in the water, she felt herself hit the ground and felt the comforting presence of air around herself and gulped in some air.
Once Annabeth felt her panic subside, and her breathing began to steady, she looked up to see where the sea had taken her.
She was in a cave, similar to the tunnel she almost drowned in. Walls and ceiling made out of the sea, ground was hard packed, damp sand. The difference this time was the cave wasn't empty like the tunnel. It was filled with sparkling treasure. Precious metals, gems, weapons, coins and more littered the room in big piles. Well, all of the room except the center. There sat a humble little oil lamp on a waist high mound of sand.
Annabeth cautiously walked over to the lamp, barely believing what she was seeing. After all this time, the lamp was actually here for her to find.
Unsure if there were any tricks or traps, Annabeth just decided to pick up the lamp and hope for the best. It was pretty old, yet barely used. Probably because it had been sitting in this weird impossible water cave for hundreds of years.
According to Hera (who had been wrong many times), the lamp needed to be rubbed three times or something to active its powers.
Annabeth rubbed it three times. It did nothing.
"Ha, looks like Hera was wro—" Annabeth was cut off by a strange noise coming from the lamp. It began to glow blue and green. Then suddenly the top flew off, almost hitting Annabeth in the face.
Annabeth fell backwards as something shot out of the lamp.
"Woooaahh!"
A young man fell onto one of the treasure piles and rolled down it landing a few feet away from Annabeth.
She jumped up and reached for her dagger which wasn't there and panicked. Not only was that her favorite weapon, but Luke had given her that blade. She began to reach for a nearby sword...
"Wait, stop!" The guy yelled. "I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm here to grant you your three wishes. I'm your genie!"
Annabeth relaxed a little and didn't grab the weapon. "My what?"
"Genie. Wish-granter. Lamp guy." The genie guy stood up facing Annabeth, and they examined each other.
They were both drawn to each other's eyes and just couldn't look away. Sea green met stormy grey, and suddenly Annabeth felt as if everything now made sense. The mysteries of the world were unlocked, and the world felt right. Wars, gods, magic, power and all the riches in the universe were nothing because everything she could ever want was across from her in this ocean cave. Five years didn't feel like a waste anymore. Not when she had found the greatest treasure of all.
Thunk.
They broke their focus at the same time to look at what interrupted their revelation. Annabeth realized she finally let go of the lamp and now it had fallen to the sea floor.
"Oh, sorry."
Annabeth blushed and reached down to grab the stupid lamp, but grabbed a warm, strong hand instead. She looked at the face of the young man to see him blushing as well, and they stood up together, yet stepping apart as well.
This time he said along with her, "Sorry."
They blushed even harder, and Annabeth found the moon very interesting again.
The genie cleared his throat, and she looked at him.
"My name is Percy."
"And my name is Annabeth."
"So I guess you know the whole three wish deal." She nodded. "What do you wish for?"
You. Annabeth almost chocked at what first came to mind. "I wish that Kronos would be locked in Tartarus forever."
Percy snapped his fingers. "Done."
Annabeth blinked in disbelief. "Wha—? That's it?"
Percy chuckled a little bit. He looks so cute when he laughs. "Yeah. I can tell you that right now the gods have realized what happened and are finishing the war."
"Wow."
"Yeah." They stood awkwardly looking at each other for a couple seconds and then Percy asked, "Do you have any other wishes? I can do anything."
Annabeth knew what she wanted to say, but needed to think of what she should say.
"I wish..."
