The Battle of the Labyrinth: Through Annabeth's Eyes

Chapter One

    I rubbed my hands together nervously as I got out of the yellow taxi that had driven me uptown to New York City from Camp Half-Blood. I gave the driver a twenty dollar bill and thanked him, stepping out into the overcrowded streets. Instinctively, my eyes flicked around, trying to spot anything unusual or out of the ordinary, but with so many people around, the chances of a monster even revealing itself through the mist was abnormal.

    I looked around, checking the address of Goode High School that I had marked on my hand. Yeah, I know you're wondering--why are you looking for some random High School in New York City when you live in California? I was here because I was going out with Percy--no, not in that way, for anyone wondering--to the movies later, and for some reason he was having school orientation already, despite the fact that it was only June.

    Percy and I were going to watch a movie together this afternoon, as soon as he got out of the orientation. I admit, I was kind of nervous, no, extremely nervous, to go out with him, just the two of us, alone. The truth was, as much as I denied it, Percy did make me really nervous. I wasn't quite sure why, but I had a dawning feeling that it traced back to the same feelings that I used to have with Luke when I was younger.

    I made a few turns, stopping a few times to ask some of the people on the streets who looked like regular New York-ers directions. After a little bit, I got the hang of wandering around. Despite having only been in the city a few times, it was actually not that hard to navigate.

    I got stuck in traffic only a few times, following the heavy crowds of tourists and business-people shuffling to get to their jobs and sightseeing spots. I made some pretty good use of my time, to my satisfaction. I glanced at my phone and smiled, realizing that I was going to be early, not late as I had suspected.

    You see, normally I didn't worry about being early or whatever, to anything at all, really. But for Percy--well, I was always stepping out of my comfort zone for him, taking risks, which was totally un-Athena like at all (I figured my mom frowned upon me for this), and, I'll admit it, trying to impress him. Again, I had a feeling about why I did it--children of Athena almost always know everything, not to brag. But I doubted Percy even noticed my extra attempts to make him, and I'll say it, despite my embarrassment, like me--notice me, I would take anything! Gods, I felt like such a love sick Aphrodite girl right now.

    My hands brushed at my sides, sticking closely to them to avoid accidently hitting anyone with my fidgety fingers. My palms grew sweaty as I pondered over what might happen on Percy and my's...outing, I suppose. The more I thought about it, the more it seemed to seem like a date. I didn't know if that was a good thing on my part or not.

    As I walked the crowded streets, my thoughts grew heavily astray. I started to think about how this wasn't the first time I had been back to Camp, like Percy thought. I had come back twice since Christmas break, but again, Percy didn't know that. I guess that was my fault--I hadn't told him, anyways. But that was out of nerves, not that I didn't want to see him. Of course I wanted to see him. I always did!

    Woah, Annabeth, I scolded myself silently. Slow down. You're just friends. 

    And yet I just couldn't stop the thoughts! They were just so overwhelming and powerful. Over the school year in San Francisco, I admit I kept a picture of Percy in my binder. He had been sending me letters monthly just to catch up on things, though I suspected he was also doing it as a reminder as to the fact that I actually existed, which kind of hurt to think about. But it one of the letters, he had sent a picture of himself that I had proceeded to cut out and stick in my binder, planning on using it as a bookmark or something. But that hadn't gone as planned--during class, I would find myself dozing through the lesson plans, holding the picture and just thinking about his dazzling sea-green eyes, his raven black hair, his perfect tan...