A Tale of Gods and Magic

Annabeth: Travis's Hair Finds Its Way to Heaven

“Welcome to the Hephaestus express! First stop, Ogygia II, in two hours.” Leo’s chirpy voice echoed through the speakers. Before Annabeth could open her mouth to make a comment, there was a crackle of fuzz. “DORA THE EXPLORER!” said a voice from the speakers that was definitely not Leo. Percy jumped about a foot into the air, then quickly and embarrassedly re-situated himself. She could practically hear his brain whirring as it tried to come up with a snide response to cover up his unsightly dive.

“Leo’s sure having a field day.” Bingo, Annabeth thought. Sometimes he’s just too predictable.

“Yeah, but look at the architecture! He got my room just right!” She gazed down at the Corinthian columns decorating the doorway and the high-tech office space under her loft bed.

“I’m sure he stole some of your designs and copied them,” Percy joked, but Annabeth wasn’t listening. She was off in architecture-land.

The “chosen,” as Chiron and Hecate had called them, were on an updated version of the Argo II, and this time, Leo had customized the room for the person. Annabeth’s room was enchanted so that the ceilings soared high above her head, held up by polished white columns. Her bed was a loft supported by more columns with fleecy sheets (okay, she’d already tried them) and a digital display above her head. She’d programmed it to a view of Camp Half-Blood, like the dining hall wall had been on the Argo II. She doubted that Clarisse, crouching behind a particularly large strawberry bush,  knew the footage was picking up her nose-picking habits.

Percy was sitting on the edge of the bed, legs dangling over the side. After Tartarus, she wanted to be close to Percy at all times. She wasn’t being clingy, but after all they’d been through, they both drew strength from each other, even if they didn’t know it. Right now, Annabeth needed a lot of strength to not throw a tantrum. Their dream of going to New Rome had gotten them through Tartarus, and now it was all ruined by a snotty bunch of Hecate’s children!

As Percy abused a massager pillow à la Leo, Annabeth was researching on her computer.

She’d googled “Hogwarts” about ten times, but with the same two hits: a salve for removing warts from pigs, and a video of a girl with buttery blond hair giggling over the words “the warts of the hogs were removed… okay, guys, it was a dare!”

“Annabeth… you there?” Percy snapped his fingers in front of Annabeth’s face.

“What?” she asked, closing the laptop. She didn’t want Percy to see her obsessive Hogwarts searches.

“I was saying that, well…. nevermind. Just complaining.” She heard the sound of running water in the bathroom across the hall. Percy’s powers. He was definitely upset.

“Directly hereditary from Poseidon,” said Annabeth seriously, aware that he had no idea what she was saying.

“What does that even mean?” Percy’s eyebrows crinkled in the cute way Annabeth loved.

“It means that you should tell me anyway.” She stuffed the laptop under her pillow and put all her attention on Percy.

“It was just… I was looking forward to New Rome and even Goode! I know Paul would love me to go. He was begging me, Annabeth.” Percy looked pained. “Sometimes I feel like all this hero stuff is overrated. I wanted a rest after the war, but Chiron is shipping us off again.” Annabeth curled her fingers around Percy’s across the bed.

“It’s okay, Seaweed Brain. I’ll be there with you.” She didn’t know what else to say. It was all true. So true, she could feel her stomach clenching.

Suddenly, the images of Camp Half-Blood changed to a sky littered with stars and the room darkened.

“Enjoy your romantic moment, kids. It’s about to be smooch-ville!” Titters filled the room and Annabeth’s cheeks turned red as Camp Half-Blood strawberries.