I wanted to write something about Annabeth first finding out Percy's gone and then telling Sally.
Annabeth still hadn't gotten over the fact that Percy, even though he had made up for it, had completely forgotten about their first month anniversary. She brought it up literally EVERY WEEK. Not because she was being annoying, but because she knew it got on Percy's nerves.
Percy, obviously, didn't dare forget their second month anniversary. Of course, It definitely wasn't as special as that night in Paris, but he definitely tried to make it as romantic as possible. The Stoll brothers tried to ruin it, but surprisingly, Clarrise managed to stop them before anything extremely embarrassing happened.
Percy made a mental note to thank her later as he paddled to the same spot as their first underwater--of many, obviously--kiss. "I know it's not as great as Paris," Percy started, but was interrupted by Annabeth leaning forward and kissing him.
"Shut up, Seaweed Brain." Annabeth rolled her eyes,"It's great," she smiled as Percy grinned.
That night, Percy had given her one last kiss and said,"See you tomorrow, Wise Girl." And Annabeth had watched him leave, doing her best to ignore the Aphrodite girls that were exhanging money as they grumbled that Percy had kissed her instead of Annabeth kissing him. Normally, Annabeth would have glared at them, sending them away in fits of giggles, but tonight, Annabeth let them have their fun as she watched Percy walk to his cabin.
"Night, Seaweed Brain," Annabeth whispered as she tiptoed into the cabin and winced as the lights turned on. Almost immediately she was bombarded with questions and joked, but Malcom shut them down, saying they had a long day tomorrow so they should all get to bed. Annabeth looked at Malcom gratefully and went to her own bed, smiling to herself as she fell into a deep sleep.
The next morning, Malcom woke her up saying that they had inspection. Annabeth cursed in Greek, quickly cleaning up her bed and stuffing Daedalus's laptop under her pillow, along with her folders upon folders of paper. She sighed and grabbed her clipboard, taking a few points off because she knew she was becoming extremely messy lately. Percy was definitely rubbing off on her. She made her way to the other cabins, stopping in front of Cabin 3.
She already knew it would be a bit of a mess, but when she stepped inside, she was surprised to see that it was completely clean. At first she thought maybe Tyson had cleaned it all up, but she remembered that Tyson had gone to help the other Cyclops for the time being. She quickly scribbled down their perfect score and went back outside, looking bewildered. She felt as if something was a bit off, but couldn't quite tell what was wrong.
"Do you know where Percy is?" Annabeth asked when she spotted Grover and Juniper.
"We thought he was with you," Juniper suddenly looked worried, looking at Grover.
"Never mind," Annabeth smiled,"He's probably just practicing," she shrugged like it was no big deal, but her instinct was telling her that percy woudn't be practicing. She looked all over the camp and then went to the Big House. "Percy's gone," she told Chiron. Without meaning to, her voice cracked. She had felt something off, and now Percy was gone. "I looked all over Camp, and he's not here. Blackjack is still in the stables, and he's not in the lake." she explained quickly.
Chiron, always the calm, collected, confident centaur, just nodded. "We'll find him. Is it possible he might have gone home or visited Tyson?"
Annabeth sighed,"You're right. Maybe I can Iris Message him," She quickly went back to Cabin 3 in hopes that maybe she was just being extremely paranoid and that Percy was just joking, but the Cabin was eerily quiet. She pulled out a drachma and threw it in the fountain. "Oh, Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Percy Jackson."
She waited one minute, two minutes, three minutes, before throwing another one in. Nothing. What was going on? She came back out and ran to the stables. "Come on, Blackjack. We have to find Percy," she said. She didn't exactly love the idea of flying on the pegasus, but she was in a hurry, and didn't want to complicate things by getting a chariot. Luckily, Blackjack sensed her urgency and flew to New York, landing on the top of Percy's apartment building. "I'll be right back," she told Blackjack, rummaging in her small bag for a sugar cube.
"Please, please just let percy be here," Annabeth muttered to herself as she knocked on Sally Jackson's door.
The door flung open and Annabeth smiled a bit,"Oh, ummm... hi, Mr. Blowfis,"
"Annabeth!" Sally came up from behind Paul and hugged her tightly. "What are you doing here? Where's Percy?" she asked and Annabeth felt like the sky was on her shoulders, again.
"I thought Percy was here," Annabeth said softly, her eyes filling with tears. No. She wasn't going to cry. Percy was fine. That Seaweed Brain was probably just playing a joke or something, but deep down she knew this was not funny. "He wasn't at camp," Annabeth informed Sally as she pulled away from her embrace. "I tried to Iris Message him but something went wrong, and I looked everywhere I know he could be. Maybe he's okay, but something feels wrong," the words came tumbling out of Annabeth's mouth before she could really think about it.
"But I swear on the River Styx I will find him," she promised, clenching her fists.
