Through Annabeth's Mind: Percy Jackson And The Lightning Thief (Annabeth's POV)

1) The Boy That Dropped By

Look, I didn't want to be a half-blood either.

I know, Percy already warned you. If you didn't listen to his advice, I can't really help you.

My name is Annabeth Chase.

I ran away from home when I was seven, met the only friends that I would have for a while, Thalia and Luke, and reached camp several months later with Grover. That's where I was when things started going worse than usual in my life. In Camp Half-Blood, next to Chiron (Yes, the half-human-half-horse-centaur from ancient Greece). He told me a few days ago that things were worse than usual in Olympus (also yes, The Mount Olympus), but still hasn't told me why. To be honest, I noticed long before that. The sky was darker, and more hurricanes than usual were passing by Long Island.

You must think I'm crazy, talking about centaurs, a magical floating city called Mount Olympus in the middle of New York, and that I'm deranged because I fled from home. But no. Us, half-bloods, are different from the rest, and trouble usually finds us. If you didn't believe Percy, again, there's not much I can do. Chiron knew I was anxiously waiting for Grover to come back because it was his first search since he came to rescue me, which didn't go as planned, at all. Just thinking about that day makes me shudder.

Anyway, I was playing a game of pinochle with Chiron, who was sitting in front of me on the porch of the Big House. I wanted to know what was going on, and I couldn't help but ask, curiosity had won. Maybe this was my chance for a quest that I really needed since I haven't been outside camp since I arrived, which was five years ago.

   "Chiron, what's happening in Mount Olympus?" I asked. Seconds passed in silence and I could feel the tension between us while he made up his mind whether to tell me or not.

"You know that each god has a weapon," he finally answered. "One that no one else is supposed to possess"

"Yeah, it's one of the most ancient and important rules," I remembered. Like Zeus had his 'Master Bolt', Poseidon had his Trident and Hades had 'The Helm of Darkness'. And then it hit me. "Are you trying to say that one of the weapons was stolen?"

He sighed and decided not to answer.

After a short wait, the sun was starting to dip into the water, and dark gray clouds loomed in the distance. A storm was approaching.

"Grover should have reached by now"

"The boy has a powerful aura, he most definitely will run into trouble"

"More than we usually do? But the only way that's true is if... no that's impossible, right?

Chiron simply replies, "I don't know."

One of the Big Three. No way. The Big Three are the three most powerful gods of Olympus, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades. They had sworn an oath sixty years ago to not have any kids with mortals because they were just too powerful and caused too much damage to the mortal world. But a prophecy existed, that Chiron told me about two years ago. It said that the faith of Olympus would be decided by something a child of the Big Three would do, and somehow I had a part to play in this. Yet again, he refused to tell me more. 

I was so lost in thought that I hadn't realized it had started raining outside. The camp borders protected the inside, so we could choose our weather. Then, far away, on Half-blood Hill, right outside the limit, I heard a scream. A boy? The Boy? And next to him, a bull. No, not a bull. I saw something that had horns, but also human-looking legs. Oh no. NO. The Minotaur. The boy was fighting the Minotaur. And as soon as I saw it, it was gone. Did the boy kill it? Did it run away? I stood up, and so did Chiron. We were about to head there when we saw him. He was walking towards us, dragging Grover. He was bruised and had cuts all over his body. Things must have gotten really bad.

I was about to walk over and help when Chiron stopped me. I looked at him, puzzled. As they came closer, I realized the boy was only half-conscious. And proving my point, he collapsed right in front of the porch.

Chiron was right, even unconscious, he had a very strong aura, one of a powerful demigod. That must have attracted the Minotaur.

"He's the one. He must be," I told Chiron.

"Silence Annabeth, he's still conscious" he pointed out, "Bring him inside"

We called the Apollo kids to check on him, and once they arrived, I went to the dining pavilion to have supper and clear my thoughts.