The Blood of Olympus

Chapter III---Annabeth

As they walked, Annabeth studied the Chinese-Canadian son of Mars ahead of her, who was unusually quiet. The teddy bear that he had been had apparently taken steroids and gone to military boot camp; he was taller, leaner, and definitely more muscular. Hazel had explained what had happened in Venice, but Annabeth knew it would be a while before she could look at Frank without doing a double-take.
When they reached the mess hall, the four other demigods' conversation abruptly ceased. Annabeth had noticed that kind of behavior from the others; they acted like they were scared of her and Percy, and honestly, Annabeth couldn't blame them.
"Hi," Percy said casually, pulling up a chair and taking his place at the head of the table. Annabeth immediately sat down beside him, and Frank parked himself between Hazel and Leo.
"Hey," Jason said. Piper was fiddling with her dagger, and she and Jason kept looking at it, probably trying for a good vision.
"So," Percy rubbed his hands together. "Where're my pancakes?"
Frank shifted. "We finished eating a while ago."
"What? Alright, then why didn't you tell me?" Frank recoiled, then realized that Percy was grinning. Annabeth silently thanked Percy; they didn't need any other reason for the rest of the crew to fear them.
Percy got up and went into the galley to get his pancakes, and Annabeth turned her attention to the magic video walls of Camp Half-blood. Annabeth was honestly surprised the camp wasn't already in ruins; as far as she knew Octavian was almost there.
Percy sat down again, his plate piled with blue pancakes and syrup.
"So," Leo said, pulling her out of her daydreams, "what's the game plan now?"
"I'm gonna pull a Coach Hedge here," Hazel said, and, speaking in a gruff voice, "We go to Athens, find Gaea, and blow some stuff up!"
Everyone chuckled. "But seriously," Jason said, "we need a plan."
"Simple," Percy said, swallowing a bite of pancakes. "Go to Athens---"
A crash sounded from on deck, starling everyone and making Annabeth jump to her feet and draw her dagger. "What was that?"
"I don't know," Percy said, putting down his fork, "but I have a feeling we're about to find out."

++
Ooh! My first cliffie!
Sorry I haven't updated in a while... I was a bad fangirl and forgot the ending of House of Hades, so I had to wait for my friend to return the copy he'd borrowed from me.... =/
Yeah...
...
Sorry I'm in a "..." kind of mood and had a ... kind of day... Last day of the week for fall break! Hopefully all this snow won't interfere with our plans to go to DC for Thanksgiving... I haven't seen my cousins since Christmas!
Yeah, on that topic, I probably won't be updating until after Turkey Day, so happy Thanksgiving!
Rick Riordan owns all characters... =P

Happy reading,
Katia