The Mark of Athena

Chapter 10

Percy

Percy was starting to hate snow, especially how deadly it could be. He put Annabeth on her bed, she was bleeding less, but didn't look so good. He gave her some nectar, put on some new bandages on her arm, and waited for her to wake up. There was a knock on the door. Percy opened it. It was Hazel. 

"How's Annabeth?" she asked. 

"She's still asleep, but she should be fine." Percy replied. "How's Frank?" 

"Fine," Hazel replied. " He actually feels kinda stupid, he couldn't believe that Zethes hit him on the head and he got knocked out." 

Percy shrugged. "How are the others?" 

Hazel shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she said. "I think that they're alright."  

Percy looked at her, once again, he couldn't believe that she was so calm with this. She was only thirteen, and seemed to be in the best condition. Something was bugging him though, and Percy couldn't figure it out.  

Suddenly, he heard Piper scream. Percy looked at Hazel, then at Annabeth. 

"Dont' worry," Hazel told him. "I'll stay here and watch her."  

Percy nodded, and ran out.  

When he got outside on deck, Percy saw Jason and Piper kneeling over something. He ran over and saw that they were looking at Leo. He was on the floor, unconscious.  

"What happened?" Percy asked Piper. 

"We were just walking inside the ship, and Leo just passed out. His powers drain his energy a lot. Something like this happened in Detroit, when we were ambushed by Cyclopes and Leo destroyed them. He used his fire powers then, and he fell to his knees for a few minutes. But, I think he should be fine with some rest." Piper told Percy.  

Percy and Jason carried Leo to his room. They put him on his bed and closed the door.  

"I hope he's alright," Piper said in a worried tone. 

"He'll be fine, it's Leo we're talking about. He'll probably be up in a while, goofing around and being plain old Leo." Jason comforted her.  

They went back to Annabeth's room, to see that she still hadn't woken up. Percy was disappointed. He had wanted Annabeth to be up by now. All of a sudden, something weird happened, and Percy had seen his share of weird things, but this made the top three. Annabeth starting glowing blue. Percy was shocked. He couldn't speak, then, the room started to shake things fell off the walls and Annabeth's dresser. Then, Annabeth stopped glowing, and things magically appeared back on the walls, shelves, and dresser. Then, something appeared on Annabeth's wrist. It was the Greek number one. Then, Annabeth opened her eyes.  

"Percy," she gasped. 

Percy ran to her and held her. She was shaking hard.  

"Annabeth," Percy said as gently as he could. "What's on your wrist?"  

Annabeth looked at her wrist and gasped. She looked at Percy, with tears in her eyes. 

"It's my Mark," she whispered. "The Mark of Athena."

Percy wanted to ask Annabeth a million questions, but he waited until everyone got out of the room.

" What's the Mark of Athena?" he asked.

"It's a long story,"

"I've got all night."

Annabeth took a shaky breath. "It started a month ago, when I was looking for you. My mother, Athena, visited me. She told me that I was to play a very big and important roll in the prophecy. Then, she gave me a 'gift'. I asked her what it was but she told me that I would figure it out. I haven't spoken to her since. I almost forgot about it, but my wrist always irritated me after that. I've been trying to figure it out, but I can't seem to find it anywhere in Greek mythology. I think the number one on my wrist either means that I've used it once, or it's the first warning. Something tells me that it's a warning."

Percy looked at his girlfriend. He gave her a hug.

"You need some rest," he said. "I'll come back in the morning, alright?"

Annabeth nodded. She fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

Percy got up and left. He walked around the ship, trying to find the rest of his friends. He still couldn't believe how big this ship was. Leo had really thought of everything. Finally, Percy heard noises coming from the room at the end of the hall. He entered an caught his breath. It was obviously the games room. There were huge flat screen televisions everywhere, each one had a different gaming consul in front of it. The floor was black, and there were leather couches in front of every T.V for people to sit on.The ceiling lit up, switching colours from hot pink to neon green to neon yellow, and every other colour. Percy saw in a corner a huge dance floor and DJ booth. As much as Percy wanted to check out every single game and item in this room, he wanted to find his friends. He needed to talk to them. He found them sitting on a huge leather sofa. Hazel was curled up on one side, asleep. Frank was starring at the TV in front of them, which had the words 'Game Over' flashing on screen. Piper was curled up, cuddling Jason, who was looking at the ceiling. No one seemed to notice Percy, who was still standing at the doorway, looking at his friends. Finally, Jason looked over at him.

"Hey Percy, how's Annabeth? Frank and Hazel told us what happened." Jason said.

"She's asleep now," Percy replied. "But I have to tell you guys something."

Percy told them about Annabeth, and the Mark of Athena.When he finished speaking, they all had the same look on their faces: confusion with a trace of scared. The only thing Percy could hear was Hazel lightly snoring. It seemed to calm him a little. He didn't know why, but it did.

"Who's Mark? Is it one of Annabeth's siblings? I heard you guys talking about Athena." a voice said behind Percy. He turned and saw Leo behind him. Leo was pale, and looked kind tired, but other than that, he looked fine.

"Leo!" Piper exclaimed. She got up and gave her best friend a hug.

"Can't breathe beauty queen," Leo gasped.

Piper let go, she was smiling. Percy saw Jason smiling to, as he got up and gave his best friend a hug, but not as bruatally as Piper did.

Percy quickly explained what happened to Annabeth, once more. Leo didn't even try to make a joke. 

"You know what I think we should do?" Frank asked. Percy almost forgot he was there.

"What?" Leo asked him.

"We're so stressed about this quest, I think that we should relax a little and just be regualr teenagers. Let's play some video games. It's safe, the room in insalated with celestial bronze." Frank said.

Leo sat down on the couch.

"Reset," he said. Immedately, the game was back at the menu. Leo grabbed a controller. Piper sighed, then picked one up. Everyone did after that. Percy agreed, they were stressed. He picked up a controller.

"I'm gonna kick your butts at Mario Kart"  Frank said. Percy grinned. Tonight, he was going to be a regular teenage boy, hanging out with friends. He was still worried about Annabeth, but he needed a break to worry about stuff. They could figure it out in the morning.