The Blood of Olympus

III Annabeth

Dedicated to Bunnymania for being such an inactive but awesome friend.

---

He's gone.

Annabeth just closed her eyes. She wanted to stop thinking about him, to forget, because he's gone, and there isn't anything anyone can do to bring him back.

All she can think about is him.

Annabeth never understoood why people always say that crying does nothing but harm your liver. She always thought that when you are sad or angry, crying takes away all your attention from what makes you sad and direct it to crying. But right now, the feeling she feels, it wasn't sadness, or anger. It wasn't even misery.

Despair.

Sorrow.

Hopelessness.

Pain.

The tears fill up with her eyes, threatening to spill. But they don't. They flood her eyes, but they never overflow.

Annabeth had to admit, she had skill. She flipped to a page she thought would be near the most saddest part, and in her case, the most helpful part. Instead her fingers decided to flip to a page that didn't tell the whole story, but was enough to tear her apart.

Annabeth ran through a list of people who could die and make her feel pain. She tried convincing herself that the person the book was refering to could be anyone, seeing as she even had a soft spot for monsters, but she knew that it was Percy.

She didn't want to look at the book to see if she was right. She squeezed her eyes shut before the tears spill.

"Annabeth?" Piper whispered, cautious. Annabeth responded by ignoring her and trying to focus on her thoughts.

Chiron made it clear that Ariel will be staying with them no matter what the Seven say, but that didn't make Annabeth trust the girl any more than she did. Ariel could have faked the message, and even though Annabeth didn't know if that was possible, she didn't eliminate the thought. She could have wrote the book and and printed them. She could have used the Mist.

On the other hand, if Ariel is telling the truth, she could save Percy's life.

That was enough to tempt Annabeth. She opened her eyes.

She was so absorbed in her own thoughts that she didn't notice the rest of the demigods staring at her, obviously too afraid of her to interrupt her thinking.

Annabeth looked at Ariel right in the eyes, to see whether she really could trust her. Ariel stared right back, even though Annabeth's eyes were probably freaking her out. Annabeth admired her determination.

Now, Annabeth wasn't even sure why she had to look in Ariel's eyes to see if she could trust her. The decision was made since Ariel said she could save their lives.

Annabeth shouted, "Percy! Let the pegasus go back to Camp. Come down!"

Percy came rushing in. "What?"

"I never said it was an emergency. Sit." Annabeth gestured to the empty chair across from her. "Tell them about your dream."

Percy gulped, no doubt wanting to forget the dream. "Octavian told the Romans he is the only person still qualified to be their praetor. Now they have to listen to him, or risk a beating."

"Don't underestimate Camp Jupiter. If they really don't support him, they would risk a beating." Jason defended.

"I never said they wouldn't," Percy scowled. "Anyway, I don't think Octavian is waiting for a specific date like Gaea is, so they will probably attack Camp really soon."

Annabeth bit her lip. Her eyes drifted to the walls, which were enchanted to show live scenes from Camp Half-Blood. Right now the show the strawberry fields, with Demeter's children running along the rows, stopping when they see a plant they need to fix.

"But I guess not right now, since everyone looks peaceful." Annabeth said. Everyone followed her gaze to the wall. They seemed to just realize they could watch Camp Half-Blood even when their is an army outside.

"So we have to watch the bloodshed while we eat?" Frank said.

"Sorry, man, never thought it would come to that." Leo apologized. He probably didn't like the images himself.

"Anyone else had helpful dreams?" Annabeth asked.

"I don't think any demigod dreams are helpful." Hazel said, even though it was clear she was nervous. Three sapphires appeared at the rim of her plate.

Annabeth frowned at her, then decided that if she was keeping something really important, she would have shared.

Then the alarm rang, echoing around the empty halls of the Argo II.

"Man, can't we go through one single meeting without monsters?" Leo groaned.

---

A/N: Hello!

I've got nothing to say.

Baii

-Ariel