Owl's Wisdom

Chapter Two

Annabeth's POV
"Percy..."I said, too nervous to say anything else.

"Annabeth, I missed you so much!" he says.

He runs up and hugs me. He whispers in my ear, "Meet me at our spot tonight."

I haven't been to that spot in so long! It's under the dock at the lake, where we had our first kiss. We stop hugging and he sees Zoë, uh-oh.

"Who's this?" he asks.

"Oh, this is Zoë, my... assistant. Yeah, assistant." I lie, while winking at her, telling her to go with it.

"Oh, well nice to meet you Zoë, I'm Percy." He says, shaking her hand.

"You too Percy, I hope that I will get to know you some more over the next week." Zoë says.

"Hey! After you finish packing, do you want a tour of Camp Half-Blood?" Percy asks; kind of asking my permission.

"Can I mo...I mean boss." Zoë says, catching herself.

"Sorry, I call her mom because she's like my mom. My parents died so she took me in and gave me a job." Zoë says, trying to make up a believing story.

Good thing she's a descendant of Athena and has Athena's blood in her.

"Sure, it's okay Zo. Just be back at midnight, at the Athena cabin okay? Now let's go unpack so you can go on your tour." I say, needing for her to wrap it up so I can talk to her.

"Okay, see you in an hour Percy?" she says.

"Sure." He says. We head to the Athena cabin and start unpacking.

I decide to start, "Hey Zo, good job out there with the story. I hate lying, but I'm waiting for the right time to tell him. I think I'm going to tell him tonight, when we meet up later, then when I get back I'll tell you why I wake up screaming in the middle of the night. Okay?" I say.

"Sure. Wait! You're going on a date?!" she says.

"No, we're just going to go and talk." I say.

"Mom, that's a date." No it's not. End of conversation." I say trying to avoid the subject.

"Okay, I'm done mom, see you later and you WILL explain. Kay? Bye." She says and leaves before I have a chance to answer.

I chuckle; she is so much like Percy. Then my mind wondered how I'm going to explain her to Percy. I have a little bit of time before I have to meet Percy so I decided to go and practice my fighting. I might be a little rusty since I haven't practiced for 13 years. Oh well, just another reason to practice more. I get my armor on and grab my Drakon Bone Sword from Damasen. We met him in Tartarus, cue shiver, and he saved Percy and gave me this since I lost my knife. I decided to fight my half-brother, Malcolm, since he is the best big bro anyone could ask for. I was beat in 1 minute, which was better than what I thought I would of done.

After I was done practicing, I went to Zeus's fist and sat down and just thought for a moment. My life was like a rollercoaster that had an infinite number of ups and downs. I felt a song come up so I grabbed my notebook and wrote down the lyrics. I decided that I would sing this song with the others tomorrow. I went to lake to springs and took a drachma out of my pocket and said, "Oh Iris, Goddess of Rainbows, please accept my offering and show me Zoë Jackson."

The image of Zo showed up in the mist and it looked like was having so much fun with her father and some new friends. I recognized them as Maria Zhang, Dayus Solace-Di Angelo, and Odyssea Valdez. Percy and I were the only ones who weren't married out of the 7. I cut the connection and went to the Athena cabin and realized that it was time to meet Percy. I rushed to the docks and realized he wasn't there.

"Seaweed Brain, Are you there?!" I yelled hoping he was just hiding, and knowing him, he probably was.

I was right, because not two seconds later, he popped out of the water and pulled me under. I luckily took in a breath before I went under, but it didn't take long for him to create a bubble around us.

"Hey Seaweed Brain" I said.

"Hey Wise Girl," he replied.

"Gods, it's been so long since I've heard that." We said simultaneously. We laughed.

It's been so long since I've felt at home.

"Merry Christmas Seaweed Brain." I said.

"Merry Christmas to you too Wise Girl." He said.

It became awkward silence for a little while until he spoke up, "Do you still get nightmares at night from... you-know-where?" he asks.

I nod, "Yeah, but when I realize you aren't there to help me get through them I start to break down." I say, not being able to keep it in any longer.

"Well, I'm here now and you aren't getting away from me, never again." He said and pulled me into a hug.

I just cried into his shoulder for a while. I finally got ahold of myself when he asked, "You know what's weird?"

"What?" I reply.

"That Zoë looks almost exactly like me. Isn't that weird?"

Oh-no, he's catching on, don't reveal anything!

"Yea that's weird." I said.

"And you know what's even weirder? That when I asked her what her last name was, she didn't reply and was suddenly very interested in her feet. Anything to explain Wise Girl?" he says.

"Well you see, since she was an orphan, I adopted her. She doesn't really like her last name because it brings back too many bad memories." I lie.

I really hate this, but I can't tell him yet.

"I better go, I promised Zo that I would explain to her about why wake up screaming in the middle of the night, then crying out your name." I say.

"Okay. I guess I'll see you tomorrow." He says a little disappointed.

I was just about to go up, but before I could, he spun me around and crashed his lips to mine. I was surprised at first, but didn't stop, instead I kissed him back. I missed so much and I only realized the severity of how much then and there in that kiss. We broke apart and I swam up to the surface. I ran to the Athena cabin and once I was in the cabin, I slid down against the door and cried. Thinking...

'What am I going to tell him.'

Hope you all like this. It took me all day, but I got nothin else to do. Please comment.

Happy Christmas Break!!!!!!!!!