Chapter 3
//PERCY//
Sand sifting through my hands, I pondered what had just happened. Not for the first time, my whole life had changed because of a single day. Because a challenge erupted before me and I rose to meet it, because that's who I am. Because that's who Annabeth is. And I could not let Annabeth go alone... Never.
Annabeth...
But the real reason I sat on the edge of the lake, cold water rinsing my feet, at 6 o clock in the morning, when just an hour ago Chiron had bid us all a good night, was not that my life was going to change again. The next seven years were out of my hands. No, it was because of a decision... Annabeth.
The day after next, at 6:30 in the morning, Annabeth, Piper, Jason, Leo, Nico, Chiron, Rose and I would gather in a secluded part of the woods, encircled by the Time Turner. Rose and Chiron would, with some type of spell and help from Hecate, apparently, bless them with magical powers. Under the influence of a charm, the Time Turner would take them back to the year when they were eleven, and their bodies would return to that state too. Then the charm would be lifted, and just themselves, not their appearances, would travel to the year of 1991, on June 23. Chiron and Rose would return to the present, and Hecate would transfer the demigods to Britain, sending them in pairs to different orphanages all over the country, making them swear they would under no means reveal their demigod powers. Sometime before the 30th of July, Ministry representatives would come to tell them they had They would not see each other, besides the one they lived with, until September 1, where they were to meet in compartment 23. As for which Hogwarts 'house' they would be in, it was anyone's guess.
This was the part that bothered me. As I had heard, Ravenclaw was the supposed house for the brilliant. What if Annabeth was there and I wasn't? What if she fell in love with someone else? Could I bear it?
No, I decided. And thus, the question I had been attempting to answer for at the very least an hour was solved, and I sat up, brushing sand out of my hair, repositioning myself so that I knelt before the lake.
"Father," I whispered aloud, my hair whipping about me in the wind, the lake rising up to wet my knees, "Father, you know what I need, right? Please.."
Again, the waters of the lake lapped my knees and I willed them to wet. Please, Dad, I thought. As the water drained back into the sea, I spotted what they left in their wake with a grin. A large, lustrous pearl shimmered brightly in the sunlight with beauty to rival that of the most perfect diamond. I picked it up and tossed a large golden coin from my pocket into the lake as an offering.
"Thank you," I said, and straightened up, making for my bed.
///
"Percy... Come on, you idiot, get up! Ugh, you're useless..." There was the sound of someone taking hurried steps away from my bed, so I cracked my eyes, turning to look at my alarm clock.
1:59, it read.
"Oh my gods!" I sat up, startling the angry blond busying herself in the kitchen of my cabin. "Annabeth! It's TWO! Oh my gods, oh my gods, oh my gods," I muttered repeatedly, trying (unsuccessfully) to pull my shirt onto my pants, which I still wore. "Annabeth, everyone is going to MURDER me! Gods, I missed four classes I had to teach!"
I turned to look at her, finding her wearing an amused smile. "Percy," she said slowly, as if I were four. "Do you remember anything from yesterday?"
I suddenly stopped hopping around in a struggle to pull a hat (Just a sidenote: I don't wear hats, or even own them, and have absolutely no idea where it came from) on my foot, my angry expression fading, and fell back onto my bed. "Oh...Oh yeah... So- So did you get my classes for me?"
"Me? Please, I woke up at noon. Been trying to wake you up every since," she smirked, sitting down on the edge of my bed.
I jumped up immediately, almost knocking her off. "Oh my gods! It's TWO! I have almost no time left!"
"Percy- where're you-," she began, but I tore out of my cabin, leaving her extremely confused.
"Where is he, c'mon, Leo, where are you..." I said to myself, sprinting around the camp. Then I ran into him.
"Hey, watch out-! Oh! Leo! C'mere dude, can you do me a solid-"
"Only if you can do me a liquid," he said, completely seriously.
"No, look, okay, so..." I pulled him over to a corner where it would be really difficult to be heard and tugged a bundle of cloth out of my pajama pocket. I opened it to reveal the pearl. "I need you to make this into a ring... Please."
His mouth opened in shock, he closed it, then opened it again, grinning. "Honestly, Percy, I never really imagined you to be the ring-wearing-type, but, hey, you'll rock it-,"
"It's for Annabeth," I interrupted. "Please, okay?"
He looked at the seriousness in my face and nodded. "Sure."
I sighed, relieved. "Don't let anyone know, especially her. Can you have it done around six? And please, just something simple, nothing too showy, something you can wear while fighting evil guys and writing twelve-page essays, y'know, without it getting in the way," I joked.
He grinned. "No problem. Piece of cake."
///
You can't blame me for getting a little bit nervous before proposing, alright? I mean, c'mon, this is some pretty big stuff...
So it's not my fault if I showed up at the Hephaestus cabin at four thirty in my underwear.
Right?
Well, actually, it's a bit of a longer story than that.
I guess Jason and Nico just wanted to be funny, maybe? Well, anyways, after I gave the pearl to Leo, I decided the best way to cope with my nerves was a nap. I was exhausted and went straight to my cabin to close my eyes (not locking the door... oops.) So Jason saw me and told Nico, suggesting a prank, not knowing about the importance of my plans, and they changed my alarm clock's time. Harmless, right? Well, yeah, if not for the fact that I woke up at 4:30 (having missed the alarm), believing it to be eight, and therefore, in my haste, may or may not have left the cabin without clothes (yes, with underwear on. I sleep in my underwear, okay? Don't look at me like that.) So I sprinted to the Hephaestus cabin and threw open the door to find myself face to face with Clarisse. (Don't know why she was in there.) Then I realized my mistake and took off, not fast enough for her to make a few choice comments and laugh, though.
So a pretty bad start.
After the shock had worn off,
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