Annabeth Chase and the Battle of the Labyrinth

Chapter 5 - Percy sucks at showing a girl a good time.

I dressed my best for my date with Percy. That is, I put on my usual orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, my beads and tucked my cap into my shorts.

Argus gave me a lift into New York, some of his eyes winking at me as we drove. I did my best to ignore him, although I knew that I was blushing furiously.

"It's not like that," I muttered, which only served to make him smirk more, the eye on his tongue frequently winking at me.

To be honest, I was kinda nervous to see Percy. It had been several months since I'd seen him last and we had parted under difficult times. Nico had disappeared and our failed search for him had left us with no clues as to how to find him. Also I had to keep the labyrinth secret from him so he knew nothing of what I had been researching over the long winter break from camp, nor what I had been doing most of the time. I didn't want to worry him with the monster attacks I'd had or the other demigod things I'd been involved with.

And I definitely hadn't told him about the meeting I had with Luke. I know he disapproved of my continual contact with the leader of the enemy and I didn't want to do anything that would jeopardise my friendship with Percy. To me, it already felt to be on thin ice.

That's why this date was so important to me. It was the perfect chance to be able to spend a few hours not thinking about the labyrinth, or Luke, or Grover, or death, or a possible war or any of the other countless worries that plagued my waking hours and my dreams. It was going to be good to just enjoy the moment and Percy's company - as long as he didn't do any embarrassing or we didn't get attacked by monsters, both of which were likely occurrences.

Still it would be worth it, spending a few quality hours with Percy, pretending for some time to be mortals.

----||===========>

I had Argus drop me a block from Percy's school as we were quite early and I wanted to go for a walk to clear my head before I saw him. For some reason I was feeling quite nervous, the thought of seeing him making my palms sweaty and my heart race a little bit.

"Stop it," I told myself under my breath as I walked, my hands shoved into my pocket. "You've seen Percy a thousand times before. This is no different." But somehow I couldn't convince myself.

I was walking along East 81st, approaching the school, when a door banged open, Percy shooting out so fast he almost tripped over his own feet. I grabbed him by the shoulders as he went to stumble past me.

"Hey, you're out early!" I laughed, secretly pleased that he was so eager to spend time with me. "Watch where you're going, Seaweed Brain."

So far, so good, I thought to myself.

Then the date, and my good mood, crashed and burned.

"Percy, wait up!" A girl's voice yelled.

I turned to see a red-headed girl come racing up the alley to us, her hair flying like Merida from the movie Brave. She wore a maroon shirt and old jeans that were half torn and half covered in marker pens. But most curiously, she was covered in monster dust, from the top of her flame head to her battered sneakers.

I looked at the school and saw flames shooting out of a window, smoke pouring out the doors and fire alarms ringing. I could also hear kids and teachers screaming in panic and a general Percy-incited chaos.

Sighing, I turned back to Percy, seeing for the first time that his face was pale, like he'd had a fright, but his breath was coming quicker, like he'd be in a fight. He also had monster dust on him, but other than that, he looked unhurt.

"What did you do this time?" I demanded, frowning at him. "And who is this?" I pointed at the red-headed freak.

"Oh, Rachel - Annabeth. Annabeth - Rachel," Percy stammered, by way of introduction. "Um, she's a friend. I guess," he added awkwardly.