neró

water

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In Annabeth's dream, all she could see were roaring blue waves. One after another, they crashed over her, and each time, she laughed. The waves were huge, but they felt like nothing more than a misty breeze when they fell over her. She reached up with outreached fingers, the tips of them grazing white foam. Annabeth smiled.

Somehow, she knew where she was. It was her home, a place so familiar it felt like an essential piece of her. The air was warm, the Sun was shining above her, and white sand shifted beneath her feet as she walked towards the sprawling ocean. She knew that if she looked behind her, Annabeth would see a valley and pine trees and scattered buildings. But she did not look behind.

Instead, she continued forwards. The waves retracted with her, and they swirled around her until Annabeth was wading in the cool water up to her hips.

Except for the waves crashing on the beach behind her, there was no sound. There was no darkness, no uncertainty, for the water was clear as glass. She felt serene.

Even as she walked in the water, Annabeth knew that it was a dream. But it didn't feel like one. How could it when the soft sand felt so achingly familiar, when the smell of the salt was like a memory?

Still, she continued to walk. Even as the sound of the waves disappeared in the distance, and the sight of land vanished, Annabeth walked. The water did not grow deeper nor colder. It merely was.

Even in a dream, she knew that she was searching for something. No, for someone. Someone was missing. But the sea was endless, and all Annabeth could see was water stretching out for miles. She was chasing a ghost. A memory. Something that had once existed, something that she had once remembered. But not anymore.

And then, in the distance, she saw something. Rocks, jutting out of the sea like clawed fingers. Annabeth's heart pounded as she walked faster.

The rocks grew nearer, revealing a rocky beach behind them. And on that beach was a silhouette.

"The answers to your questions are here."

Annabeth started as a voice filled her mind. She strained to hear anything else, but all was silent.

She frowned, and approached the jagged rocks. There was seemingly no way past them, no way to get to the figure on the beach. Annabeth tried to take another step, but she could not move.

She stared at the bottom of the sea floor, and found her feet to be completely covered by sand. Annabeth attempted to tug them free, but to no avail.

She paused. She ran her hand down her shin, where there was once a scar given to her by Dalos. But it was gone.

Annabeth gaped down at her untarnished legs, then studied her arms with the same awe. There were no scars except for one on her arm that had been there before Dalos. Somehow, in this dream, she did not have any of her scars.

"I find that scars tell a story," a casual voice said from behind, "but I did not know if you were aware yet that this is a dream."

Annabeth whipped around and found herself facing a beautiful woman with constantly shifting features. Her hair was blonde, then black, then a cinnamon hue of brown. Her eyes were a familiar dark brown. The woman was in the water, like Annabeth, yet her sapphire robes were not swirling in the current nor did they appear to be wet.

"I had to find a way to tell you," the woman continued, as if she could not see the confusion on Annabeth's face.

"Who are you?" asked Annabeth, surprised to hear how even her voice sounded.

The woman laughed humorlessly. "To explain would take more energy and time than I have. Annabeth, you must find this place," her gray eyes hardened, "or else you may damn us all."

"Who?"

"Everyone. You are a key part of the prophecy, Annabeth, and without you, Olympus will never be saved. Come here, and you will bring victory to us. Come here, and you will save us all, and yourself."

"I don't understand," Annabeth said, furrowing her eyebrows together, "what prophecy? Who is us? And where is here?"

The woman smiled, and her eyes turned to a sea-green, and stayed that color. "You already know. The water runs in your veins. It will find you. It is not a coincidence that everything is happening now. You are a part of something foreign to Olympus. All of the demigods are."

"What do you mean?"

Another smile. "We are dying. The gods are dying. But we are merely the old gods; we should have faded eons ago. But you are young and powerful and capable of so much more than what we are. You can destroy the world, and build a new one. Build a new Olympus, as your friends already have."

"What?" was all Annabeth was capable of saying. Her mind was reeling as she attempted to absorb what the woman was saying.

"Darling, we are dying," the woman said with a careless wave of her hand. For a dying person, she did not appear too concerned. "We are all trying to protect our children. Poseidon has a unique way of going about it," she nodded to the lone silhouette on the island, "but it is working. His son is safe there, although a bit isolated and trapped, and no doubt worried and confused. Annabeth, everything here is what you are searching for."

The woman winked at her with those sea-green eyes. "Now, it's time for you to go. There's a friend of yours that needs saving, and it's a personal interest of mine that you save her."

"I don't understand-" Annabeth began to say.

"If we all understood exactly what was being told to us, we would never achieve everything on our own. Remember, Annabeth, the water heals."

And with that, the seascape faded away, taking Annabeth with it.

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She woke up soaking wet. The smell of salt water was still staining her skin, and if she closed her eyes, Annabeth could imagine that she was still deep in the ocean.

There's a friend of yours that needs saving.

She bolted out of bed, and stumbled out of the hall. Cameron and Clarisse's voices were shrill and loud, and they called to her like a beacon. Drew was hurt. Terribly. And Annabeth could possibly help her.

Annabeth spilled into the room in time to see Drew's eyelids flutter, and her ragged breathing slow. Cameron and Clarisse dropped to her side, both of them murmuring. Annabeth took a step towards them, causing both of the persons kneeling on the floor to turn to her.

"Annabeth?" Cameron asked, uncertain.

She stepped towards them, outreaching her hands to Drew. Drew, who was bleeding her life out. Drew, who had rescued Annabeth from hell.

Drew could not die.

The water heals.

Annabeth was going to test that theory, she pressed her hands against Drew's stomach. And she pulsed.

Her gut pulled. And water gushed out of her hands, spilling onto Drew. Where the water touched, the blood faded away.

"What in Tartarus," gasped Cameron from behind.

Annabeth smiled to herself as Drew's skin knit back together, leaving no trace of the previous injuries. It was as if it had never happened.

Annabeth removed her hands, and the water stopped. There was no puddle on the floor nor was Drew dripping wet. It had evaporated, somehow, leaving nothing behind.

Drew's eyes opened, revealing the same brown eyes that the woman in Annabeth's dream had. Drew blinked uncertainly, staring up at Annabeth.

Annabeth smiled, and the words fell out of her mouth. "Your mother says hello," she murmured softly to the girl.

"Annabeth? Why are you wet?" Drew asked, her voice sleepy.

"When did you talk with Aphrodite?" Cameron asked, his voice shrill. "The gods have been silent for years!"

Annabeth shrugged. "In a dream. Cameron, who's the son of Poseidon?"

Silence greeted her question. She frowned, and turned to face him.

"Aphrodite told me that the son of Poseidon is the answer to everything. And I know where to find him."

"Annabeth, Percy's been missing as long as the gods have," said Clarisse dejectedly.

"A god spoke to me today," Annabeth said firmly, "so I think I can find a boy that's been missing as long as they have."

"He's dead," said Cameron, his voice emotionless and cold. "He's been dead."

"No," said Clarisse strongly, "he's not."

"He's not," Annabeth agreed, "and I know where to find him."

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In the middle of the sea, rocks jutted out of the waves like clawed fingers extended towards the sky. The rocks surrounded a rocky beach. It was the only piece of land to be seen for miles.

There was a boy on this rocky island. No, not a boy; a man. Though he did not know how many years he had been there, he knew it had been several.

The waves broke around him as he stood isolated on the rocky beach. For years, his view had not changed. But today, everything felt different.

He scanned the horizon for a sign of the difference that he felt, but there was nothing there except for miles of endless sea. The horizon beckoned to him, but he was unable to leave. And he had tried everyday since he had arrived here.

"It's no use," said a voice behind him, "you know there's no way off. If there was, I would have left eons ago."

"I know," he responded, "but something just feels different today. I don't know what it is."

Carefully, he turned his back to the horizon, and climbed back down the rocks to where Calypso waited for him. She extended a hand as he neared her, and he took it.

"Every so often, I get the same feeling. But nothing ever happens. It's just a feeling, and feelings go away sometimes."

His gut wrenched, and he gasped out in surprise. Calypso narrowed her eyes in alarm.

"What is it?" she asked.

But he could not respond. Because the water that had left him for so long had returned. He could feel it.

He closed his eyes.

And he saw hands holding a lifeless body. He saw water pour out of those hands, and onto Drew Tanaka. He saw Clarisse and a stranger kneeling beside Drew. He saw Drew wake up, and stare. He heard murmuring words.

And then, he heard the words that sent his heart pounding and his mind rushing and his life reigniting.

"Annabeth?" Drew asked.

His eyes snapped open, and a smile grew on his face. It was impossible not to smile. It was impossible not to smile and laugh and shout.

"Are you okay?" asked Calypso, concern shining in her eyes.

'Okay' didn't even begin to describe how he felt.

"Annabeth is alive," he said, the words cementing themselves into reality as he said them, "oh my gods, she's alive!" He laughed out loud, for the first time in a while.

Calypso released a shout of happiness, and hugged him tightly. He returned it, laughing and smiling into her hair.

"Oh my gods," he said, "oh my gods. She's really alive."

For the first time since arriving on the island, Percy Jackson was filled with joy and hope, devoid of the usual anxiety and dread.

"She's alive. Annabeth's alive."

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author's note

i'm so sorry for the long wait better ween updates! i've been uninspired for a bit, but i think i'm ready to continue this book.

this is the first chapter published with the new cover! what do you think of it? better yet, what do you think of this chapter? this is the first chapter with percy so...

thank you so much for reading!

-marlene young