~ { Shadow and Beauty } ~

Hazel And Kiara Officially Hate Everyone

   "Failed her?" Percy wasn't sure he'd heard her right. Annabeth was the perfect demigod child. She was everything a daughter of Athena should be. "How could you ever—?"

   "I don't know," she said miserably. "On top of that, I've been having nightmares of my own. They don't make as much sense as yours."

   Percy waited, but Annabeth didn't share any more details. He wanted to make her feel better and tell her it would be okay, but he knew he couldn't. He wanted to fix everything for both of them so they could have a happy ending. After all these years, even the cruelest gods would have to admit they deserved it.

   But he had a gut feeling that there was nothing he could do to help Annabeth this time, other than simply be there. Wisdom's daughter walks alone. He felt as trapped and helpless as when he'd sunk into the muskeg.

   Annabeth managed a faint smile. "Some romantic evening, huh? No more bad things until the morning." She kissed him again. "We'll figure everything out. I've got you back. For now, that's all that matters."

   "Right," Percy said. "No more talk about Gaea rising, Nico being held hostage, the world ending, the giants—"

   "Shut up, Seaweed Brain," she ordered. "Just hold me for a while."

   They sat together cuddling, enjoying each other's warmth. Before Percy knew it, the drone of the ship's engine, the dim light, and the comfortable feeling of being with Annabeth made his eyes heavy, and he drifted to sleep.

   When he woke, daylight was coming through the glass floor, and a boy's voice said, "Oh... You are in so much trouble."

Percy had seen Frank surrounded by cannibal ogres, facing down an unkillable giant, and even unleashing Thanatos, the god of death. But he'd never seen Frank look as terrified as he did now, finding the two of them passed out in the stables.

   "What...?" Percy rubbed his eyes. "Oh, we just fell asleep."

   Frank swallowed. He was dressed in running shoes, dark cargo pants, and a Vancouver Winter Olympics T-shirt with his Roman centurion badge pinned to the neck (which seemed either sad or hopeful to Percy, now that they were renegades). Frank averted his eyes as if the sight of them together might burn him.

   "Everyone thinks you've been kidnapped," he said. "We've been scouring the ship. When Coach Hedge finds out—oh, gods, you've been here all night?"

   "Frank!" Annabeth's ears were as red as strawberries. "We just came down here to talk. We fell asleep. Accidentally. That's it."

   "Kissed a couple of times," Percy said.

   Annabeth glared at him. "Not helping!"

   "We'd better..." Frank pointed to the stable doors. "Uh, we're supposed to meet for breakfast. Would you explain what you did—I mean didn't do? I mean... I really don't want that faun—I mean satyr—to kill me." Frank ran.

   When everyone finally gathered in the mess hall, it wasn't quite as bad as Frank had feared. Jason and Piper were mostly relieved. Leo couldn't stop grinning and muttering, "Classic. Classic." Kiara was smiling faintly, but her eyes were tinged pink as if she had been crying. Only Hazel seemed scandalized, maybe because she was from the 1940s. She kept fanning her face and wouldn't meet Percy's eyes.

   Naturally, Coach Hedge went ballistic; but Percy found it hard to take the satyr seriously since he was barely five feet tall.

   "Never in my life!" Coach bellowed, waving his bat and knocking over a plate of apples. "Against the rules! Irresponsible!"