Reading is Fundamental

I - Annabeth - Olympus

Warnings: Crass language

Camp Half-Blood was quiet for the first time in months. The only sounds to be heard were the ever present rumbling in the woods, waves crashing on the lake's shore, and Annabeth Chase threatening her boyfriend.

"Percy!" she groaned. She stood outside his cabin, leaning against the door with her forearms. "Percy if you don't open this door I'm going to give your breakfast to Blackjack." The door stayed silent and Annabeth threw both her hands in the air in a dramatic gesture for no one to see. "Fine," she muttered. She walked around the porch to the back of the cabin and climbed through one of the windows.

She gasped. There was almost an inch of water on the floor. That in itself wasn't too unusual, but the rest of the room told a different story. It was like an earthquake had hit. The wardrobe had dumped itself onto Percy's bed and all of his driftwood shelves had collapsed. Anything that wasn't fastened in place- and a few things that were- had been thrown to the ground. The far side of the room had a small crater burnt into the bamboo floor, and anything glass had been shattered back into sand.

She hopped over to the bathroom to find the shower and sink both bone dry. Percy wasn't home and it looked like he hadn't been all night.

She quickly unlocked the front door and ran to the beach, trying to stifle the panic growing in her lungs. He'd probably just gotten on the Stolls' bad side or something, even if this was far from their usual MO. But he was nowhere in sight. She checked the training field, the arena, the lake, and even the pegasus stables. When the morning bell rang she had half a mind to just leave him to a breakfast-less existence as punishment for scaring her, but something was stopping her. All asking around yielded was fuel for the apprehension and fear making it's home in her stomach.

Once she had searched the camp from tip to toe, Annabeth turned towards the Big House. She let the adrenaline kick in and raced up the old rickety steps. Chiron was sorting through some old papers. Actually, they were like really, really old. They must have been around for hundreds of years. Her eye caught on the word Gaea, wasn't she like "Mother Earth" or something?

"Chiron!" she yelled, cursing the second lost to her ADHD.

"Yes, child?" he responded calmly, too calmly.

"I can't find Percy." Why was she panting? That was less than a quarter mile.

The centaur sat forward in his wheelchair. "Have you checked the strawbe-"

"Yes," she breathed, "I've checked everywhere."

He wheeled himself out the door and was soon cantering to the cabins to form a search party.

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Annabeth was half-heartedly cleaning the Poseidon cabin. It had only been two weeks, but it was already far too long. He could be anywhere. For all she knew, he was in mortal danger. Gods, for all she knew he could be dead.

She sighed and walked to the window, ignoring the searing lump in her throat. Percy had once told her that the cabin was placed here because it had the best view of the sea, and it did. The sun was just starting to set, its light bouncing around in the waves.

Suddenly, there was a little flash of white light and an envelope appeared directly in front of her face. She took a step back in caution, clutching the broom like a staff.

She poked it with the handle a few times, but nothing happened.

When she finally got around to opening it, all it contained was a notecard.