[Y/N's POV]
A right hook caught me right across the face. A great way to start the thanksgiving break. I didn't waste any time in returning it, as my fist connected with Charles Beckendorf's massive head.
Unfortunately, he rolled right with it and hit me in the stomach with his fist. I could have sworn my breakfast almost shot back up through my throat. Beckendorf winced at me. The afternoon wind brushed through camp as I fought for air on my hands and knees.
"Jeez dude, you alright? Did I hit you too hard?" he chuckled, then grimaced, massaging his knuckles. "I might have. What are you made of, iron?" he asked. After coughing my lungs out onto the snowy floor of the arena, I looked up at him and chuckled, trying to catch my breath.
"You're a metal worker, Charlie. You should know how to shape iron." He simply laughed at that and pulled me to my feet. "I think that's enough sparring for the day, Y/N. I don't want to kill you."
"You couldn't kill me, Charlie. Trust me, I've tried." his face took on a confused expression, before I waved my hand and said, "Don't worry about it."
"So what do you want to do next?" the son of Hephaestus asked. I wracked my brain for a moment, trying to figure out what we hadn't done yet today. "This is going to sound crazy."
He smirked. "Crazy? I wouldn't expect anything less." he shook his head. "I've been trying to work on holding my breath and since it's pretty dang cold out here, I think it'll be good for me. I'm going to jump in the water and stay under as long as I can manage. And I want you time me."
The way Beckendorf was looking at me, you'd think I'd asked him to stab me in the throat. Eventually though, he just slapped himself on the forehead with his massive hand, and went to grab a watch. We met back at the pier by Long Island's waters. He grabbed me by the shoulder again. "Are you sure you want to do this? That water's probably below freezing at this point."
As I shed my shirt and jacket, I ran my hands over my tingling torso, trying to make sure I didn't actually freeze. "Yeah, I'm sure, Charlie. Now get that watch ready, alright?" he nodded, reluctantly. Beckendorf was shivering already, and he was fully clothed. I dropped my shirt on the snow covered dock and mentally prepared myself.
If the air was this cold, it was hard to imagine just how cold the water was. I was starting to second guess myself. "Are you jumping or not, you pansy?"
I flipped Beckendorf the middle finger and took a deep breath. I am many things, but I am not a pansy. I don't even know what that is.
Without giving myself another chance to think, I leapt off the dock, submerging in the freezing cold water. Every cell in my body was screaming at me to get out. It felt like a million little knives poking me all at once. I jammed my eyes shut, so as not to focus on the fact that I was dying a bit at the moment.
Eventually, the pain stopped, and all felt normal. I guess that enough time has passed for my body ti accommodate the the cold.
After what felt like a few minutes, I felt something tickling my feet. I looked down and saw a school of flounder, 'floundering about', investigating this earthly body in the middle of their domain. A small smile grew on my face. Not too big though, because I was still trying to keep the air in my lungs.
My training regime had changed a lot in the last few months, mostly because I discovered that I could enter a different plane of existence. The 'shadow world' as I liked to call it.
It helped with travel big time, because I figured out that I could run a mile in 5 seconds of real time. In regular time though, it took more like a minute and a half or so. The problem?
There was no air in there. No one realizes how difficult it is to hold your breath until you actually try and do it.
But that's why I'm down here. I'm working on it.
There was no way to tell just how much time had passed when you're down here. But it felt like a lot That's why Beckendorf had the watch above water. I'd gotten more and more time each go around, sometimes a few seconds, sometimes a few minutes. I was dead set on cracking an hour. Hopefully by Christmas.
I feel like I'd grown a lot better at most things, because of the constant rigorous training regiment Chiron put together for me. The best part was that I could recruit whoever I wanted to help me out with some of this stuff.
So far, it had been the Hephaestus campers rotating between sparring, the Hermes cabin with stamina, and the Athena cabin with refining my sword training.
Let me preface this by saying I've never been that great with a sword. I've always been perfect with a bow, but due to extraneous circumstances, I mostly refuse to use one.
My swordsmanship had improved a lot this semester though, mostly because Annabeth had admitted at the end of the summer that she'd always been able to read my attacks way before I actually attacked. I had some big glaring indicators on what I was about to do.
Yeah, turns out that's why Annabeth always beat me at those things. A certain twitch in my leg, or a certain pattern in movement or whatever. Would've been nice to know that before I'd had my life on the line a couple times the last two years.
What she did was help me remove those tells, and tighten up my form. Since then, I hadn't lost a duel with anyone at camp.
Sure, I was still a bit unrefined with sword fighting, but it was a lot better already.
My eyes scrunched up, as I tried to focus and stretch the time. The only thing rushing around in my ears was the movement of the water and the things in it. Another school of fish swam around me, poking and prodding me in a bunch of different places. It was a struggle to not laugh, because it tickled like crazy.
Focusing, my eyes squeezed tightly. So tightly in fact, that I hadn't realized I was pulled out of reality again. I could only tell when a prominent, whispering voice said, "You still refuse to see reason, don't you, child?"
'Not this again...' I thought. A deep rumbling laugh shook the darkness around me. "You think that just because you can walk in the shadow that you deserve any control over what I put inside of you?"
The answer felt obvious, but this thing couldn't see reason, so I figured why even bother. "WHY BOTHER?!" The usually calm voice shouted. A few deep breaths from the shadow man, and he started again
"You have assumed that sealing your monster away, will help you?" he chuckled. "I assure you, boy, it will not. I warn you. You will regret your decision soon enough."
I felt the limited air slip out of my lungs. Now I was stuck here with no way to get out on my own, and no air. "Ah... You're dying... It's too soon... Get out of my sight."
I opened my eyes to see a curious school of fish staring in front of me. The last bit of air passed out of my lungs, and just as the bubbles floated en masse up to the surface, I followed, emerging and taking as deep of a breath as my lungs allowed me. A pair of frightened shouts pulled my attention up to the dock.
[Annabeth's POV]
I placed a fork full of eggs in my mouth. "You're sure you don't like anyone?" Silena Beuregard of the Aphrodite cabin asked me. "I don't know, Silena. Can you stop asking me that? It's weird."
It really was weird, because it was first thing in the morning, and the snow had barely started falling. Snow was one of the few things that the boundary around camp let in. Mostly because the Hermes cabin wanted to start a bunch of snowball fights. They never won any though. Y/N and the Apollo cabin's immaculate aim usually took care of business.
I looked back at Silena who had her head in her hand. "Are you sure? Because I bet there's more than a few people who like you." I ate another piece of my eggs. "Okay?" I muttered.
"OKAY?!?" Silena shrieked. "That's the best thing for a fourteen year old girl. Crushes and young love. It's always so beautiful to watch." she had a dumbstruck grin on her face as a chuckle found its way out of my mouth. "I've been a little too busy to worry about love, Silena. Can we just drop this?"
"I don't think you really believe that, Annabeth." she said, smirking devilishly. "Please go back to the Aphrodite table."
"Not a chance. I need to watch something." As soon as she said that, I heard a boisterous "Goooooood morning everybody." I turned and saw Y/N with a bright grin on his face, pushing through the crowd to our table. A few of my cabin mates muttered 'good morning' or 'keep it down'
As soon as Y/N saw me his face dropped that confident smile and turned meeker, like he was nervous about something. "Morning, Annabeth." he number. Silena smirked. "Good morning, Y/N." I said through a stifled yawn. "What, did you not get enough sleep last night?" he asked.
"Probably more than you." I replied, jokingly. He just frowned sarcastically. "Deep cut."
Things between us had been kind of awkward for a few weeks. Right after the chariot race. When I kissed him. Sure, it was on the cheek. But it was still awkward. And I hadn't really thought about it before it happened, either.
We kind of just never talked about that. I'm not sure if he didn't want to, or if I didn't want to, but it just kind of happened. Even though a bunch of the Aphrodite girls and the Stoll brothers teased him about it.
"Maybe, but it's true." I replied with a smirk. Y/N thinned his lips, tilted his head and said, "I guess... Well, I'm going to get breakfast. Being around this many geniuses is making my brain feel sad."
A few of my cabin mates showed him rude gestures and a few others tossed something at him.
Y/N evaded it all and returned a few of the rude gestures. My brothers and sisters laughed at him as he grabbed a plate and sat down at the Zeus table, right across from Thalia. She greeted him with a smirk.
He sat down, summoning pancakes onto his plate, drowning them in syrup. Thalia glared at him, and Y/N just put his hands up in defense. He must have said something, because Thalia started giggling.
Thalia, by the way, was a tree this time last year. But after the quest to save the camp in the summer, the golden fleece had done its job too well, so now she was here. Thalia Grace, daughter of Zeus. Alive and well.
She grabbed her sides and doubled over as Y/N was gesturing wildly around. The two of them had grown close in the few months since the summer. Y/N once told me that he owed Thalia his life, multiple times over, so he clearly wasted no time in getting familiar with his savior.
It had only been a few months, and they were already this close. That bothered me. And not just on a surface level. Like, I could feel this in my heart.
Y/N had met Thalia just once before the summer, and it didn't end well for either of them. Now they were chatting and laughing like nothing bad had ever happened.
A tug on my shirt pulled me out of staring at them, and I saw Silena looking at me with a cocky smile. "Annabeth. Let go of the fork." Sure enough, I was gripping the utensil so tightly that it had started to bend.
I dropped it suddenly to the table and the fork vanished, being magically replaced with a brand new one. Suddenly, the conch horn sounded, signaling that it was time for the few campers that stayed at camp year round to move on with their schedule.
I looked across the table at Silena who was smirking like mad, and only then did it hit me that my face was violently red. Silena hurried and caught up with her siblings as the Athena campers moved on.
***
The morning activity was weaving, and we had no trouble with that. Children of Athena were all naturally gifted weavers. We had started making beautiful tapestries of the snowy landscape that camp had become. Some of them were the lake, some were the big house, or some other surrounding building. Mine was focused on the nature aspect of our surroundings.
I'd always loved nature.
The problem lay in the fact that midway through our tapestries, Y/N jumped out in front, shouting, "photobomb!" One of the other girls in the cabin, Miriam, scoffed at him.
She was close to 10, and had been at camp for a couple of years already. "These aren't photos." She said. "You can't just-" Miriam's own words were cut off by her exclamation of: "AUGH! Damn it, Y/N!"
We all looked down at our weaving and realized we had mindlessly added him into the tapestries. He chuckled, checking Abraham, one of my brother's, tapestries. "Not bad, not bad. The cheekbones could use a little work. They're not that defined." he critiqued.
He laughed like mad and called out behind him, "Come on, Campers! Move it! Move it! Move it!" A bunch of the Hermes children trotted up to him, jogging along, mostly exhausted, wheezing at they jogger. Bringing up the rear were the stoll brothers, followed by Thalia. She shoved him as she went past. "Let's go lightning rod! Aren't you supposed to fast!?"
Thalia punched him in the arm as he jogged back along with them. "Give me a break, Y/N!"
"Your stamina is awful!" Y/N exclaimed. "I've been a tree for the last six years!" she shouted, trying to push her body. "How long you gonna keep using that excuse, Thalia? It'll only work for so long."
"We've been running for two hours!" Thalia cried. "That sounds like a you problem!" Y/N had started to jog backwards. I could see in Thalia's eyes that she was tempted to trip him. Instead, he tripped on his own. On a snow bank, somersaulting somehow back to his feet and trotting backwards in one fluid motion.
Thalia was gobsmacked. Y/N looked surprised with himself and chuckled softly. He shrugged, saying, "Feel free to catch up whenever you want." and turned on a dime, sprinting easily back ahead of the group.
Once we had finished our tapestries, Y/N and all, there was a break period before lunch. I decided to use it to walk around the cold atmosphere of camp. I always enjoyed watching the snow fall. I donned a hat and some earmuffs, trying in vain to stuff my curly blonde hair under. Along with the three shirts/jackets I was wearing on top. It's very cold in Long Island this time of year.
My feet carried me to the docks of camp, where someone else was standing, staring out at the water. "Oh, hey Annabeth." Charles Beckendorf called out to me.
I waved over to him and walked out to the end of the pier. He had a stopwatch in his hands, looking down at the water. "What are you doing out here?" I asked him. "Waiting on Y/N." he replied simply. I raised an eyebrow, folding my arms, trying to keep my teeth from chattering. "What do you mean, you're waiting on Y/N?"
Suddenly, an explosion of bubbles disturbed the otherwise clear surface of Long Island Sound. Another eruption followed, this time, Y/N burst from out of the water. He looked panicked and like he'd just seen a ghost. Beckendorf clicked the timer on the watch and exclaimed. "That was almost fifty minutes, dude!"
"Fifty minutes?!" I exclaimed, looking at him. His skin had started to go a pale blue color, and there was an exhausted look in his eyes. "You've been down there for fifty minutes?!" he recoiled at my voice and tried to reply through chattering teeth. "W-w-w-well. It-It s-s-seemed l-like a good idea at the t-t-t-time."
As much as I enjoyed being around Y/N, sometimes he was a bit of an idiot. Now whether that came down to something like this, or something about us, it didn't seem to matter.
"Get out of there, right now!" I shrieked at him, forgetting just how cold I actually was. He nodded furiously and hoisted himself up onto the dock. He flailed onto the wood like a dying fish, coughing out some water. Beckendorf was no longer anywhere to be seen. "What were you thinking?" I asked, Y/N, taking off one of my jackets to cover his bare chest.
A red tint grew onto my face, warming me up a lot. My jacket was nowhere near big enough to fit him. It did hardly anything to cover him up. Now I have to admit, in the months since last summer, he had changed physically.
He was a couple inches taller, and he looked healthier. His hair was longer. There was a growing set of abs on his stomach, and his body had started to look stronger. Especially around his arms. Ever since we used the nature magic of the golden fleece, his once irreparable wrists had healed beyond belief. But his eyes. Those eyes I always got caught up in. They were the same.
He pulled himself to his feet, trying to take off the jacket that was way too small, but I wouldn't let him, holding it firmly over his shoulders. That made me a little flustered though. He looked down at me, starting to laugh, but his teeth were chattering and he was shaking.
"Let's go warm you up." I told him. He nodded and got to his feet, following me back deep into camp.
[Y/N's POV]
It was good news to hear that I had almost cracked fifty minutes underwater. What wasn't good news was seeing that Beckendorf ditched me, and left me alone to explain myself to Annabeth.
"I was just trying to work on holding my breath for longer. It's nothing to worry about-"
"Nothing to worry about?!" she shrieked, pulling me by the hand. "Y/N, you were in the freezing cold water for close to an hour! What's there not to worry about?! Demigod or not you can still get hypothermia." Annabeth guided me to the hearth fire in the middle of camp.
I warmed up by the fire, watching a little girl smile at me and leave quickly. Annabeth told me to sit there while she got something warm.
I thought about the shadow man's words. They were pretty similar to what the demon had told me in the summer.
Was I going to regret this decision? I hope not. But a few things tell me otherwise.
I looked down at the the shadow sword I was given last summer. Well, now it was a ring. Whenever I pulled it off, the blade formed in my hand. In the middle of a really strange dream a few months back, I figured out how to move the weapon around. Having it at the hand felt much easier than if it were still on my arm.
While I warmed up, I looked down at my feet for a while, holding my hands by the flames. Someone placed a large bottle in one of them, and, thinking it was Annabeth handing me magic warm up juice or something, I drank it without a second thought.
It certainly was warm. The liquid in there burned my throat, but warmed me to my core. It felt slightly uncomfortable though. Like I couldn't just sit there after I drank it.
Annabeth tapped me on the side with a mug of hot chocolate, and I looked up at her. She had a crooked look in her eyes. "What's in there?" she asked.
I tilted my head, looking at the bottle. It felt like I just had to keep looking at Annabeth. I had to be as close to her as possible right now. I couldn't do anything but look at her right now. So I did.
A bunch of giggling made us cautiously peer around the hearth, spotting a group of Aphrodite campers staring at us.
"I think it's a love potion." I grunted. Annabeth sighed. "Who'd you look at first after you drank it?" she questioned. "You." I heard her make an odd squeaking noise, and looked back up at her. Her face was a slight pink tint. Though that was probably from the cold more than anything.
Annabeth draped a big thick blanket over my shoulders. "Can't do anything but wait until the effects wear off." she muttered and handed me clothes to put on.
"Agreed." I shuddered, putting on a shirt and jacket now that I had dried off. After a while, it felt like that constant tugging in my gut telling me to look at her had faded some. That doesn't mean I stopped, though. She was reading a large book about unique architecture around the world.
A smile graced her lips, quickly followed by a series of vastly different emotions passing rapidly. I couldn't help but chuckle at her. She looked back up at me with bright red cheeks.
"Why are you laughing?" she asked, embarrassed. "You just have a very expressive face when you're reading." I replied, tapping my foot rapidly in the snow. "It's adorable. You get so into it. What are you reading about now?"
Her face went entirely pink at that. "Um..." she turned the book to me. "There's this house buried in the earth in switzerland. It was built in 1974." Any embarrassment on her face faded quickly as she launched into a very long winded explanation about the different things she'd read in there.
That was one of the many things I loved about her. When she cared about something, she really cared about it. She was so unflinching about her love for architecture. It was awesome. Always made me happy to see her in her element.
Not to mention her smile. Every time she smiled, it felt like the world was just a little bit warmer. Even when it's really this cold.
She got so caught up in explaining that we had hardly noticed Thalia joining us at the fire. "What's up, kids?" she asked. It pulled me and Annabeth out of our trance with the book. "Nothing much, lightning rod. You caught your breath yet?" I asked her. She wasn't amused, and kicked me in the leg.
Thalia was amazing. Getting able to know her felt like a fever dream. It feels like a sister I never had.
Thalia Grace, the daughter of Zeus, had saved my life twice before, and since she had returned from being a tree, we'd gotten to know each other.
I felt responsible for her death. Since it was in fact my fault. It took me a bit, but eventually she cracked. I liked to believe we were friends by now, but it was never my strong suit to be able to read people's emotions.
I kicked Thalia back, and we both shared a laugh. I nudged Annabeth with my arm and looked back over at her. She buried her head into her book again and wasn't very talkative. The two of them had been going to a boarding school in New York, and were only home for a few more days because of some break.
Annabeth only pulled her head out of the book when Chiron came galloping up, a sweater on his shoulders and earmuffs on his head.
"Hello, Y/N, Annabeth, Thalia. Keeping warm, I see?" We all nodded. "Yeah, Chiron. Are you?" Thalia asked. He waved his hand. "Of course, Miss Grace. I'm always warm. I'm rather hairy." I couldn't help but laugh at his attempt at a joke.
Chiron smiled as well, shaking his horse tail. "Oh, yes!" he exclaimed, rubbing his hands together. "I have something to tell you three. Grover has reached out to me recently."
"What is it?" Annabeth questioned. "Is he in danger again?" I asked. Chiron shook his head. "No, he's fine. He's just informed me that he wants you three, as well as Percy to join him a few states up to check something out. Grover believes he's found something."
"An adventure? Finally!" Thalia exclaimed. "I understand your excitement, Thalia, but I don't think this will be that big of a challenge. I've informed Percy's mother and she is coming to pick you three up the Friday before his semester ends. So, be prepared."
Chiron looked back at me. "Y/N, I know you have exams soon, so study hard. Annabeth. Could you convince your siblings to help him? He needs it." She nodded at me. I shrugged about the exams, but was raring to go on another adventure.
***
I'd managed to pass the tests easily, and entered into my winter break, with the tutoring of Annabeth and her siblings, along with Chiron's old wisdom. The day had finally come, and my stuff was already fully packed.
It had been for the last week. I made my way down to the big house porch. The snowfall had lessened, but it was still very cold. I met Thalia and Chiron down there. It was the first time I'd seen her since thanksgiving. Thalia and I were both ready to go already.
After a few minutes, Annabeth came running up to us with a bag packed as well. She was carrying another book and had her dagger fastened around her waist, her blonde hair flowing behind her in the wind. Thalia elbowed me in the ribs. "Don't stare." she said.
"I wasn't."
I was.
It wasn't on purpose, but it still happened. She's nice to look at. What do you want me to say? Once she caught up, we made our checks, certifying that we all had everything needed for this adventure, just in case.
"You got your hat?" I asked Annabeth. She patted her back pocket. "Always." she replied, nodding.
"Have you ever even seen a baseball game?"
"No." she answered. "Well I'll have to take you to one then. I don't care for the Yankees myself, but you'll blend right in. We'll get you a non magic hat too." I joked. Annabeth nodded, with a smile. "Yeah, alright. Let's look into that when we get back."
I nodded, and the four of us made our way up the hill, past the giant pine tree, which was now one Thalia lighter, and spotted a car humming at the bottom. Chiron hugged us, gave us each different supplies, and sent us on our way.
When we reached the car, Percy waved at us from the front seat. Thalia slid in first, I followed, and Annabeth closed the back seat door.
It was only just now that I realized I was stuck in the middle seat. "Hi, again, Ms Jackson." I told her, buckling my seatbelt. The last time I'd been in the same car as Percy, we'd been attacked by the minotaur, so hopefully this time around would yield a better result. "Hey, Y/N. How have you kids been?" she asked, putting locking the doors behind us.
"We've been alright. I'm glad you've got the heaters on. I feel like my fingers are about to fall off." she chuckled at me. "Well, I'm happy you're getting warm. You guys ready to go?"
We nodded, and Percy's mom put the car in drive, and got us out of there.