Seaweed Brain Forgets...

A Moment with Annabeth

*Confrontation with Leo stays the same, Narcissus stuff stays the same, here's where Percy, Frank, and Annabeth go for the tar*

Frank flew us into town and landed us in an empty park where turned back into a human. Annabeth still looked a little pale because of that. I elbowed her and grinned. She rolled her eyes. 

"The hardware store's over that way," Frank pointed across the grass to a rundown little shop. 

The three of us walked over the grass towards the shop. A rusty bell dinged as we walked inside.

The store was dim, and stunk of tar. Not only that, it was stinking hot! The Fields of Punishment down in the Underworld were almost as hot as this place. The second we walked in sweat dampened our T-shirts. Annabeth wrinkled her nose in a really cute way. 

"Can I help you?" A dusty voice called from the back of the store.

"Yeah, we need some tar." I called and stepped forward

"Percy!" Annabeth hissed and grabbed my wrist, "Stop it!"

"What?" I asked. She shook her head furiously.

"Don't be shy, come in." The voice called. Despite Annabeth, I took another step forward only to step in something squishy.

"Yuck!" I yelled and tried to lift my foot, but it wouldn't budge. 

"Welcome, son of Poseidon." The voice said. A shape shifted in the darkness, coming closer. I pulled out Riptide as Annabeth took out her dagger and Frank pulled out his bow. 

The figure slithered forward, the substance I'd stepped in started to creep up my leg. I hit it with Riptide, but the blade only sunk into the black muck.

"It's... it's tar." I said.

"Not so stupid after all," The voice said. The shape slipped into the light so we could get a good look at it. The thing was made of tar. It was nothing but a big lump of tar with a sick looking hole for a mouth.

"It's been a while since I've had dinner guests." It hissed. The much on my foot was now all the way up to my ankle. It was starting to really burn. 

"Get back!" Frank yelled and shot it with an arrow. The monster just absorbed it.

"Fools! You cannot defeat me with weapons!" It laughed. 

"Percy! It's hot in here so that the tar doesn't harden!" Annabeth called. She had scurried backwards so as not to get stuck herself, "It's consistency keeps it from hardening or melting!" 

"Why do I care?!" I yelled as the muck moved up to my knee.

"Water, Percy, water!" She said. My brain clicked. I took a deep breath, and let that tugging sensation in my gut take over. The familiar rushing in my ears came. 

The shop windows burst as water from who knows where came rushing in, diluting the monster. It shrieked as the goop melted down into a slushy mess. 

My leg was free, I turned around to see Frank and Annabeth soaking wet, but smiling.

"Not bad, Perce." Frank said. Annabeth grinned and made me turn red. 

"Lets just get the tar back to the ship," I said and grabbed a tub from one of the shelves. 

Frank jogged ahead of us so that he could be there when Hazel returned. At least, that was his excuse. Annabeth and I walked a lot slower back to the ship than we should have. 

"Um, you have..." I pointed to her hair where there was a large clot of half-melted tar. She shrugged.

"I'll deal with it later." She said. That was weird, girls normally freaked out about their hair, but she didn't care. It kind of made me like her more. 

"So um... when exactly did the two of us... you know." I asked. She smirked.

"I'm not sure I should tell you that." 

"Well why not?" She sighed.

"If you end up going back to the Romans, do you want to have the memory of us hanging over your head?" She asked. I almost laughed.

"It doesn't matter whether you tell me the details or not, you're already stuck in my head." I blurted out. Her eyes brightened and her smile widened.

"Well, it was right after the second Titan War, on your birthday." She said, "We were in the dining pavilion while everyone else was at the campfire."

"Campfire?" I asked, "This camp sounds a lot more like summer camp than hero training." She chuckled.

"We're a lot different than Camp Jupiter, Percy. A lot different." She didn't have to tell me, I could tell from what I had seen in those high-tech screens Leo had in the mess hall in the ship. 

"Go on," I said. She sighed, reminiscing. 

"You told me that you had turned down their offer to make you a god because you didn't want anything to stay the same for eternity. You said things could always get better." She smiled to herself, "Then you told me that when you were in the Styx, Nico said that you had to focus on one thing that made you want to keep living. It was the same thing that made you want to stay mortal." She turned her head to look at me.

"You." I stated. She smiled, and nodded.

"You basically told me that I was what made your life worth living." She said quietly. We'd reached the ship, and stood at the bottom of the rope ladder. I turned to face her. I swallowed nervously.

"Then what happened?" I asked huskily. She tilted her head up and looked up at me. Her hair was shining gold in the sunlight, and her eyes looked like owl feathers. Our faces were about a foot apart, but we were unconsciously leaning closer to each other.

"Then I kissed you," She whispered. Our eyes closed, I felt her breath on my face as she leaned closer...

"Hey, you guys!" A voice called down, forcing us to jump apart, "You gonna come up anytime soon? We need that tar ASAP!" Frank yelled.

"Frank! They were kind of in a moment!" Hazel hissed at him, loud enough that we could hear.

"That's ok, Hazel!" I yelled in embarrassment, "We were just on our way up." Annabeth blinked and nodded, there was a hint of disappointment in her eyes.

"That's right!" She yelled, then looked back at me, "We should..." She gestured up.

"Uh... yeah." I said awkwardly, "We should."