chapter two
two clueless lovers and a tired third wheel
THE NEXT MORNING, after breakfast, Gabriella walked with Annabeth and Percy to inspect cabins. Technically, it was Annabeth's turn to do inspections, but she had invited Gabriella along for company. Gabriella was a neat freak (Aphrodite kid and all), so she was able to give an honest judgement. Then they found out that Percy's chore was to sort through reports for Chiron, so he joined them as well. Annabeth and Percy both hated their jobs, so hopefully doing it together would make it less horrible.
They started in the Poseidon Cabin, which was basically just Percy. His bed looked like it was attempted to be made, yet still looked like a mess. But at least he straightened the Minotaur horn on the wall.
"I think I deserve a four," Percy declared, almost proudly.
Annabeth made a face. "You're being generous."She used the end of her pencil to pick up a pair of running shorts.
"Way too generous," Gabriella added, crinkling her nose at the smell.
Percy snatched them away. "Hey, give me a break. I don't have Tyson cleaning up after me this summer."
"Two point five" Gabriella concluded.
Percy gave her an exasperated look. "Oh come on!"
Gabriella thought for a moment, and sighed. "Fine. Three out of five. You're lucky I'm not Silena."
Percy nodded, realizing this was the best he was gonna get. Because if it was Silena, she would definitely be more critical.
They moved along to other cabins. When they made it to the Aphrodite cabin, they of course got a five out of five. The beds were made perfectly, and the clothes in everyone's footlockers were color coordinated. The flowers bloomed on the windowsills. The cabin smelled lovely to Gabriella and everyone else—except Percy.
"This place reeks of designer perfume." Percy whispered to Gabriella, scrunching his nose in disgust. "Maybe a point should get taken off for that."
Gabriella elbowed him.
"Great job as usual, Silena," Annabeth praised.
Silena nodded carelessly. The wall behind her bed was full of pictures with Beckendorf. She sat on her bunk with a box of chocolates on her lap. Her dad owned a chocolate store in the Village, which was also how he caught Aphrodite's attention.
"You want a bonbon?" Silena asked the trio. "My dad sent them. He thought—he thought they might cheer me up."
"Aren't those the ones that taste like cardboard?" Gabriella asked, recognizing the packaging.
She just nodded.
Percy decided to try one, while Gabriella and Annabeth passed. They promised to see Silena later, and continued the job.
As they crossed the commons area, a fight broke out between the Ares and Apollo cabins. Some Apollo campers were armed with firebombs, and flew over the Ares cabin in a chariot pulled by two pegasi. Soon, the roof of the Ares cabin was burning, and naiads from the canoe lake quickly came over to blow it with water.
Ares campers then called down a curse, and all the Apollo kids' arrows turned to rubber. The Apollo kids kept shooting at the Ares kids, but the arrows bounced off.
Two archers ran by, chased by an angry Ares kid who was yelling in poetry: "Curse me, eh? I'll make you pay! I don't want to rhyme all day!"
"They're still going at it?" Gabriella asked tiredly as she watched the scene.
Annabeth sighed. "The last time Apollo cursed a cabin, it took a week for the rhyming couplets to wear off."
Percy shuddered. "What are they fighting about anyway?" He asked.
Annabeth ignored him while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both cabins a one out of five. Gabriella could tell Melody would not be pleased.
Then, Gabriella found herself staring at Annabeth—which was really stupid, considering she's seen her a billion times. Annabeth was only about two inches taller than her. Her long dark hair with blonde highlights was tied into two pigtails. At the end of last summer, she got highlights, courtesy of Silena. Annabeth had asked Silena to dye her hair (why she didn't ask Gabriella was still a mystery to her).
Saying she looked pretty was an understatement. Annabeth was seriously beautiful.
Percy coughed, and Gabriella immediately looked away, her cheeks tinted with pink. Percy gave her an amused look.
Gabriella ignored it, and answered his question. "Oh yeah, the flying chariot."
"They captured it in a raid in Philadelphia last week. Some of Luke's demigods were there with that flying chariot. The Apollo cabin seized it during the battle, but the Ares cabin led the raid. So they've been fighting about who gets it ever since" Annabeth explained.
The three demigods ducked as Michael Yew's chariot dive-bombed an Ares camper. The Ares camper was trying to stab him, and cussed him out in rhyming couplets. Gabriella will admit, he was really creative with rhyming those cuss words. Then Melody came over to them, breaking up the fight. She looked exhausted.
"We're fighting for our lives," Percy stated, "and they're bickering about some stupid chariot."
"They'll get over it," Annabeth assured him. "Clarisse will come to her senses."
Gabriella nodded. "And Melody is being the peacemaker."
They watched as Melody yanked Michael by the arm away from the Ares kid, and then got into an argument with him.
"...Or at least trying to be."
They went to more cabins. Demeter's got a four, Hephaestus got three (probably should've been lower, but they cut them some slack considering Beckendorf was gone), and Hermes got a two, as usual. Campers who didn't know their godly parent were shoved into cabin eleven, which was always crowded.
Then they got to the Athena cabin, which was orderly and clean, as per usual. The books were straightened on the shelf, and all the armor was polished. Battle maps and blueprints decorated the walls. The only thing messy was Annabeth's bunk: it was covered in papers, and her silver laptop still on.
"Vlacas," Annabeth muttered, which was pretty much meant calling herself an idiot in Greek.
Her brother, Malcolm, suppressed a smile. "Yeah, um... we cleaned everything else. Didn't know if it was safe to move your notes."
Gabriella thought that was for the best. Annabeth had a bronze knife that was reserved just for monsters and people who messed with her things. It wasn't exactly pleasant.
Malcolm grinned at the girls. "We'll wait outside while you finish inspection." Then he saw Percy, and frowned slightly. The Athena campers went out the door while Annabeth cleaned up her bunk.
While Annabeth tidied her bunk, Gabriella helped Percy sort through papers. Or, at least try to. Percy didn't seem like he was putting in the effort either.
She watched as Annabeth suddenly straightened up, closing her laptop, a gift given to her by Daedalus last summer.
Percy cleared his throat. "So...get any good info from that thing?"
"Too much," Annabeth answered. "Daedalus had so many ideas, I could spend fifty years just trying to figure them all out."
"How fun," Gabriella muttered.
Annabeth continued shuffling her papers—mostly drawings of buildings and a bunch of handwritten notes.
"You know..." Annabeth brushed her hair behind her ear, like she always did when nervous. "This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About... what's important. About losing people who are important." She stared straight at Gabriella.
Gabriella stood up, and walked over to her.
"Well, you're not losing me." She assured her, instinctively resting her hand on hers.
Annabeth smiled sadly. "I thought I almost did last summer after we..." Her voice trailed off, but Gabriella knew what she was referring to.
Their kiss. Gabriella's unplatonic I love you. Then Annabeth running away.
"Well it's not like it meant something," Gabriella spoke without thinking. "I mean—it was all just heat in the moment stuff."
Because that's what it was, right? Just like her kiss with Percy. It meant nothing at all.
The look of disappointment and hurt flickered on Annabeth's face. "Oh yeah, right." She pulled her hand away from her and continued sorting his things.
Gabriella immediately wanted to take back what she said. But instead of saying anything, she just nodded and walked back to Percy, who was staring at her like she grew three heads.
"What?" Gabriella raised her eyebrow.
"It didn't mean anything, really Lover Girl?" Percy whispered in disbelief. "I did not put up with your whining about Annabeth this whole fucking year, for you to say that. Not to mention your little situation with Rachel—"
"Oh my gods, please shut up." Gabriella groaned, covering her face with her hands.
Moments later, Annabeth walked back to them after she finished cleaning. She stared at her inspection scroll. "Three out five," she muttered.
"Are you sure? Personally I think it could at least be a four." Gabriella offered.
Annabeth shook her head. "It's for a sloppy head counselor. Come on. Let's help Percy finish his reports and get back to Chiron."
On the way to the Big House, they read the last report, which was handwritten on a maple leaf from a satyr in Canada.
"'Dear Grover,'" Percy read aloud. "'Woods outside Toronto attacked by giant evil badger. Tried to do as you suggested and summon power of Pan. No effect. Many naiads' trees destroyed. Retreating to Ottawa. Please advise. Where are you? —Gleeson Hedge, protector.'"
Annabeth grimaced. "You haven't heard
anything from him? Even with your empathy link?"
Percy shook his head miserably.
Ever since last summer, their friend Grover Underwood had been drifting farther away. Hrover was treated like an outcast by The Council of Cloven Elders, but he still traveled all over the East Coast, spreading the word about Pan and convince nature spirits to protect their own bits of the wild. He came back to camp a few times to visit his girlfriend, Juniper.
The last they heard from him was about two months ago, when he was in Central Park organizing the dryads. Nobody has heard from him since. They tried to send Iris-messages, but never got through.
"Uh, Annabeth, Gabriella." Percy stopped walking and faced the girls hesitantly. "Listen, I had this dream about, um, Rachel..."
Percy told him everything about his dream. How Rachel Dare was apparently throwing darts at a photo of Gabriella and a painting of Percy. There was also charcoal picture of Luke Castellan as a child, and another painting of the Empire State Building, which was surrounded by Typhon, and a small army.
For a while Annabeth didn't say anything. Then she rolled up her inspection scroll so tight she ripped it. "What do you want me to say?"
"I'm not sure. You're the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what would you do next?"
"I'd use Typhon as a distraction. Then I'd hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West."
"Just like in Rachel's picture."
"Percy," Annabeth said, her voice tight. "Rachel is just a mortal."
"But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans— they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what's with that picture of Luke as a kid—"
"We'll just have to be ready."
"How?" Percy argued. "Look at our camp. We can't even stop fighting each other. And I'm supposed to get my stupid soul reaped."
Annabeth looked at him in disbelief. She turned to Gabriella, hoping for her to back her up.
"Annabeth," Gabriella started gently. "I mean, she helped us before—"
"Oh come on," Annabeth scoffed exasperatedly. She threw down her scroll.
She turned to Percy. "I knew we shouldn't have shown you the prophecy. All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you're scared."
Percy stared at her, stunned. "Me? Run away?"
They were nose to nose. Then, Annabeth stepped back and took a breath.
"If you don't like our chances," Annabeth told him, keeping her voice level. "maybe you should go on that vacation with Rachel."
"Annabeth—"
"If you don't like our company."
"That's not fair!"
"Take Gabriella along with you too. I'm sure she'd love Rachel's company."
"Annabeth." Gabriella folded her arms.
Annabeth faced her, her hard expression softened slightly. Then, she stormed wordlessly toward the strawberry fields. She hit the tetherball as she passed and it went spinning furiously around the pole.
"She'll calm down," Gabriella said, watching Annabeth leave.
"Yeah," Percy nodded. "She's just jealous."
"I think she got over you a while ago, buddy."
Percy blinked. "Are you fucking serious?"
"Huh?"
"You're an Aphrodite kid. I don't know how you don't see it."
"See what?"
Percy threw his hands up in the air defeatedly, and walked away.
hi guys ik it's been a hot minute im sorry 😭
happy valentine's day <33
and also its gabriella's birthday!!!
ik it's short but i hope u enjoyed maychase being oblivious and percy being done with them <3