Sadie was not in a good mood when the Argo II came to pick them up.
First, they'd found nothing - no trace of any giants or two stars anywhere. Next, they were chased by lizard women through the city. Finally, they went looking for the Argo II, only to find them coming back after having forgotten them. This was typically something Sadie called a bad day.
"Where were you?" Sadie demanded Carter as he helped her on to the Argo II. "This hill was our agreed meeting spot. Instead of waiting here, you come in from the countryside, and we never agreed on going that far out!"
Carter scratched the back of his neck. "We didn't?"
Sadie gasped, outraged. "You forgot us!" she yelled. How dare you forget the most important members of this quest?"
"We were preoccupied," Carter defended.
"With what?" she demanded.
"Athens," he said, as if that explained everything. "That's where we were going."
"The last two giants are in Athens?"
"No, the final battle's in Athens," Carter said. He repeated the events of the fight.
"Isn't it a little early to get to Athens?" Sadie asked. I mean, Gaea's wake up call isn't for another six days."
"Does Gaea have to be awake for us to destroy her?" Carter argued. "In fact, wouldn't it be better if we destroyed her before she woke up?" That shut Sadie up.
The loudspeaker crackled, and Leo's voice came over the intercom. "Greetings, demigods and magicians! It is the great and powerful Leo Valdez speaking. We will now be having a meeting in the stables. Ladies, when I walk in, please try to restrain yourselves, although I know you all want a nice big slice of Leo pie. Peace out, peeps!"
Carter and Sadie looked at each other and communicated with sort of brother-sister telepathy before shrugging simultaneously and walking down to the stables.
*****************************************************************
"What do we do when we get to Athens?" Jaz asked. Sadie LOVED her new look. Maybe she should start wearing all black... Focus, Sadie, she thought to herself.
"We scout out the city," Annabeth said, laying a map of Athens on the stable floor in front of them. "Find out where Gaea's going to rise, maybe find a shortcut to that spot that the giants wouldn't think to cover. I think the Romans would have the most experience with this kind of situation because they had a similar goal: to reach the sot where the power is being released." She talked over a few more things, like battle strategies, certain landmarks in Athens, etc. before the meeting ended and everyone went for dinner.
*******************************************************
Sadie rolled over onto her back. Her sheets were in one big knot at the bottom of her bed from all her tossing and turning. For an hour, she'd been trying to get to sleep, to no avail. Every time her eyelids closed, she would remember the battle they were approaching, and she'd be wide awake again.
Finally, after a few minutes of counting sheep (that's how desperate she was), she gave up and got out of bed for a walk.
The rest of the ship was quiet, with the exception of the snores coming from Percy's room, and the canine snarls from Frank's (apparently he slept as a dog).
Outside, the sky was clear and Sadie could see all the stars and constellations. She recognized the Little Dipper, Hercules, Ursa Major... that's when she saw it: a constellation of a girl running across the sky, carrying a bow. The constellation of Zoë Nightshade, as Percy had described. The Huntress.
Zoë Nightshade had died fighting her father, Atlas. While the prophecy had clearly said that one would be killed by their parent, and Zoë knew it would be her, she had gone anyway, and had died for her mistress and her friends. Sadie loved and hated that story. It was so tragic, yet Sadie could only hope that she would be as brave as Zoë, brave enough to step into danger to protect her friends, even if she knew she would not step out of it unharmed.
Sadie should have realized sooner that Leo was not at the wheel. As she watched the stars, she felt a small prick in the back of her neck, then everything went black.
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The next chapter is Leo. I think there will be a little bit of fangirling when you read it...
So, I am changing the cover for this book. The new cover is designed by MissMythoMagic, and I'm just waiting for her to e-mail it to me.
So, last chapter, I asked you if you thought Annabeth had anger issues. All of you said no, but that she does tend to overreact. I guess I agree, because when one of you told me that Annabeth overreacts, Annabeth showed up and let's just say that I will be supplying the flowers for that reader's funeral.
