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

3) Will Solace Kills A Dummy

I entered the Infirmary, and I found Michael teaching a new camper some healing techniques on a dummy. He had shaggy blond hair and pale but intense blue eyes. He was wearing cutoff shorts and flip-flops, and looked quite young, around 11.

"Hey, Annabeth," said Michael calmly, "This is our new bunk mate, Will Solace. I was just teaching him some stuff about surgeries, but I guess he won't need my help. He's got an extraordinary talent for healing."

"Hi," I said. "It's nice to meet you. Michael, do you know where I can find Percy?"

"The new camper? He's- NOT THERE, SOLACE. DO YOU WANT TO KILL THE DUMMY?"

"The dummy is dead. That's why you're not making me do this on something that's alive," Will retorted.

"Okay, but don't EVER CUT THAT ARTERY OR YOU'LL KILL THE PERSON YOU ARE CUTTING OPEN. Now try it again."

Will's eyes changed and I saw determination in them as he tried again, and this time, he didn't kill the already dead dummy.

"Oh, he's on the second last bed on the right," Michael said, answering my question. "And do you mind feeding him some ambrosia? He's better, but still keeps passing out."

I thanked him and started walking towards the bed.

There was a boy lying there. Percy. He had raven hair, sharp features, and he looked my age. His skin was still a bit pale and he was bruised in a few places, but his cuts seemed to have disappeared. The Apollo kids did a good job, as always. I wonder if it was the new kid, Will. I took the bowl that was on the table next to the bed and checked if it was the ambrosia that Michael told me about, and I realized it was ambrosia pudding. Yum.

I took a spoon and forced it inside his mouth. He swallowed it by himself. I found it hilarious, and then he started drooling. I felt like laughing, for some reason. That was a good sign, though, it meant he wasn't completely unconscious. What if he was the one I had to go on a quest with?, I asked myself as I fed him. But that was silly, because I thought the same with every new camper, and none of them were, why would it be him? 

I saw his eyes open, and my smile faltered. Whoa. I tried not to show the surprise in my face, so I ended up smiling weirdly. His eyes were a piercing, intense sea-green color. Beautiful, so insistent and startling, even when he looked so weak. Don't get distracted, Annabeth, I told myself.

Michael and Will were quite far, and there was no one else in the infirmary. This was my chance.

"What will happen at the summer solstice?" I hurriedly asked.

"What?" he said, as if he were lost.

I looked around to make sure no one would hear us, because I was not supposed to know about this. "What's going on? What was stolen? We've only got a few weeks!" I whispered-yelled.

"I'm sorry," Percy said, "I don't-"

Someone knocked on the door, and I quickly shoved some pudding in his mouth so he would stop talking. Percy went back to sleep, (that was fast). The door opened, and Luke entered.

"Luke!" I exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically. I was suddenly self-conscious, I flattened my hair and fixed the loose strands. "What are you doing here?"

"I heard you were here, and I guessed you came to see the new camper, since that is what you have been doing to figure out which one you are destined to go on a quest with," he said sarcastically. How did he know? "I'm not dumb, Annabeth, and I know you, so I just came to check on you. How are you doing? I haven't seen you around lately."

"I've been better," I muttered.

"Why, what's wrong?" he asked, looking at a sleeping Percy, then bringing a chair to sit next to me and the bed.

"No, nothing, I'm fine," I said quickly.

"I know something's on your mind, I always do," he cooly replied. How does he do that?

"I'm a child of Athena, I always have something on my mind," I said. He just looked at me. "Fine, I might have accidentally heard a conversation between Chiron and Mr. D"

"Accidentally? Really, Annabeth, you are as bad at lying as Grover," he said.

"Okay, fine. Fine. Just listen, it's important." I trusted Luke, after all, he's saved my life countless times and he took care of me and Thalia when I found him (or he found me) two weeks after I fled from home. I couldn't have reached Camp Half-Blood without him. I told Luke about the conversation, that the summer solstice had to do with something that was stolen, that Percy might be in danger because he saw the Three Fates cut the yarn, that something serious had happened in Olympus. He just looked at me, scanning my eyes as if he were trying to figure out how much more I knew.

He sighed, and said, "I don't know, Annabeth. All of this sounds dangerous, and I think you are overthinking it. What if it's just one of the usual godly fights that happen?" He said that last part bitterly. "I think that for now you should not think about it. Even if it is as serious as you think, I'm not saying it is, you wouldn't be able to do anything. It will only get you into trouble," he affirmed, laying a hand on my cheek. "Promise me, okay? It will only cause more trouble, and you know that."

"Okay," I sighed, making it sound casual, trying to forget that his hand was in my cheek, that he could probably feel the heat that was accumulating there. Then he let his hand drop to his side.

He looked at his watch and said, "I've got sword fighting in 10. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Right," I smiled, and Luke got up and left. I knew something was going on, and it also looked as if Luke knew about something that he didn't want me knowing. But that was crazy, because it was Luke. I remembered I had promised him I wouldn't think about it too much, so I tried clearing my mind and continued nursing Percy as he slept, thinking about his odd, yet beautiful eyes to distract myself.