After Camp Half-Blood: The Prequel

21. The Wedding

Chapter 21

The last chapter of the prequel before you get the rest of the story!

            With all my love,

                        ~Kitty

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Annabeth's P.O.V.

I woke up peacefully for the first time in months. The day after my engagement was filled with people overwhelming me with questions about my wedding. A few hours of that led to a headache eventually cured with Percy's embrace and reassurance that it would be alright.

Well, fast-forward eight months, and here we are the day before my wedding. I had slept peacefully, thank the gods, and as soon as my eyes opened, I was off. It was summer and today was the last day I would be anywhere in the camp without a chaperone, assuring that Percy and I didn't see each other before the wedding. Officially at midnight, I became Thalia's responsibility. Thalia, who left to spend the winter with Lady Artemis, would be coming back tonight and tomorrow. But she wouldn't be staying long, she would leave with Lady Artemis after the reception. Piper offered to take over her job for the summer as a counselor.

Determined to not let my hair get in my work's way, I forced it into a tight bun at the back of my head before setting off to get the camp set up for tomorrow. Tyson was coming tonight, and all our godly relatives were showing up in the early afternoon tomorrow. Things were so hectic between my classes and my last-minute planning. Mainly because It's difficult to explain to any florist, bakery, or caterer to come out into the middle of nowhere and drop of hundreds of dollars' worth of food, cake, and various decorations without some resistance. It was barely dawn, when I began my last-minute run through of all the set-up; meaning I had less than an hour before breakfast.

I tried – in vain – to imagine our Mess Hall benches, decorated in ribbon and flowers, in front of the Big House, an arch Juniper and Calypso insisted I have for tradition, and all the flowers, bows, and candles that would soon lay out among the plush green grass.

In the Mess Hall, I tried again to imagine these long wooden tables replaced with circular tables lining the edge of the walls, covered in sea green table clothes and topped with lilac colored flowers – as per the advice of Aphrodite. The napkins were a dark blue-grey and complimented the mint- tinted grey lanterns that would be hung above our heads by strings going across the Mess Hall. I suddenly felt my mouth dry, my heart race, and the Mess Hall spun around me. I grasped at a nearby table, but didn't land on the bench, I was lucky enough to slow myself before coming to rest in a sitting position on the ground.

Gods, this is real? I thought in astonishment. Am I really marrying Percy Jackson?

"Annabeth?" A gruff male voice called my spinning world to a slow twirl. I looked up to see Will Solace and Nico, towering over me.

"Hey, you two." I said with a small stutter.

"What are you doing on the ground?" Nico asked as Will knelt next to me.

"I'm looking at this from a new perspective." I lied coolly.

"Uh-huh," Will disbelieved, taking my pulse. "Then why is your pulse 55?"

"And why did you fall?" Nico added.

I stayed silent since the spinning had picked up speed. Will could tell too.

"Annabeth." His voiced seemed to echo off the walls of my head. "Focus on me Annabeth." He spoked to the side to Nico who quickly ran off. Gods, where is he going? I stressed over that, and it certainly didn't help the spinning.