Chapter 7

         I finished my dinner and was about to walk back to the Percy's cabin. Well, I guess now it was technically both of ours cabin. Wow, it's weird. One second I was an amnesiac that knew nothing, the next I knew far too much and had a super powerful father and brother. Funny how things go.

        Anyway, I was about to leave when an idea hit me. I quickly grabbed what I would need and stuffed it in my pocket.

        I walked into the cabin to see Percy sitting on what I assumed was his bunk. I went to sit next to him. I had just sat down when Grover and Chiron walked in as well. Grover sat on the other side of Percy and started, "Percy, I'm so sorry! I didn't know they'd—that you'd—Honest!" He then started to sniffle.

          I realized that I shouldn't know anything about this meeting. I had to act confused and concerned. The concerned part shouldn't be hard since I was actually concerned. I really was hoping I didn't accidentally let anything I knew slip.

        I looked at Grover with my best confused face. "What happened?"

        Grover didn't seem to be a state to reply, so Percy did instead. "Nothing. There was a meeting to decide who would go on the quest. Grover and Thalia were chosen out of the campers. I wasn't."

        "Oh." It was best to keep my replies short so I didn't give anything away

        Grover was still sniffling. Percy immediately went to comfort him after filling me in.

        "It's okay," Percy said. Liar. "Really. It's fine."

        "I wasn't even thinking... I was so focused on helping Artemis. But I promise I'll look everywhere for Annabeth. If I can find her, I will." Grover's lip was trembling and I felt a pit of sadness in my gut. Grover honestly felt really bad for Percy.

        "Grover, Ashley." Chiron said, "perhaps you'd let me have a word with Percy?"

        "Sure," he said with a sniffle.

        I nodded and started to get up.

        "Oh," Grover said. "You mean alone. Sure, Chiron." He looked at Percy miserably. "See? Nobody needs a goat."

        He trotted out the door behind me and I could hear him blowing his nose into his sleeve. When we reached the outside of the door I felt like I should do something to comfort Grover. It didn't seem right to just leave him so miserable.

        "Hey, don't worry. Percy will be fine. I'll help him," I said softly.

        Grover nodded, still looking absolutely devastated from letting Percy down. He slowly walked away and I felt like I hadn't really helped at all. I stood outside the cabin walls, not wanting to sit down in the freezing snow again. I hugged myself, desperately trying to warm up. My clothes were still slightly wet from sitting in the snow during my nap. A cold breeze was making my clothes feel like they covered with ice and made me shiver.

        I stood in the cold, not really thinking about anything. I just simply was. Just staring at the snow on the ground, letting my mind wander. I felt like mere moments, but Chiron was suddenly walking out the door.

        "You'd better get inside," Chiron suggested. "You look frozen."

        I nodded, my teeth chattering. Once I walked inside, I sat down the bunk opposite of Percy's. There was a salty sea breeze blowing through the cabin which only made me shiver even more. Percy seemed was staring at the coin he held in his hands. He looked up and seemed to realize how cold I was.

        "Are you okay?" he said, hopping up from his place on his bunk. He slipped the golden drachma into his pocket and walked over to right in front of me. "You look ."

        "I-I'm fine," I said, unable to keep my teeth from chattering.

        "Come on," he said, grabbing my arm and leading me out the door. "Let's get you some warm clothes."

                                           ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        After a quick stop at the Camp-Half Blood gift shop, I had a new pair of tennis shoes, a new orange T-shirt, some jeans, and a jacket. Percy also let me get an extra T-shirt and a pair of sweats to sleep in. When we reached the cabin, I quickly changed while Percy stayed outside the cabin. As I changed, I made sure to transfer my supplies from my short's pocket to my sweat's pockets.

        I had a thought that made me panic for a moment. I looked at the end of my bunk and found my backpack there. I sighed in relief, glad that I hadn't lost it. I was upset at myself for not thinking of it earlier. After my minor panic attack, I climbed into my bed. I hid my plan's supplies and closed my eyes to fall asleep.

        Percy must of thought I'd fallen asleep, because I heard him say, "O goddess, accept my offering."

        I felt a little guilty. I was about to eaves drop on a conversation between Percy and his mom. Curiosity was requiring me to listen, though.

        "Show me Sally Jackson," I heard Percy say. "Upper East Side, Manhattan.

        I heard a man that must be Mr. Blofis say, "Sally, you're a riot. You want some more wine?"

        "Ah, I shouldn't." That must be Percy's mom, Sally. "You go ahead if you want."

        "Actually, I'd better use your bathroom. May I?"

        "Down the hall."

        The guy must have gotten up and left, because I then heard Percy say, "Mom!"

        "Percy! Oh, honey! Is everything okay?"

        "What are you doing?" Percy demanded.

        "Homework." There was a pause and then, "Oh, honey, that just Paul—um, Mr. Blofis. He's in my writing seminar."

        "Mr. Blowfish?"

        "Blofis. He'll be back in a minute, Percy. Tell me what's wrong."

        Percy told her about everything, though he focused on Annabeth. I noticed that he left out anything about me. Wait, I was being selfish. Of course he was focused on Annabeth.

        "Oh, Percy..." I could hear the almost tears in her voice.

        "Yeah. So they tell me there's nothing I can do," Percy said. I could hear the regret in his voice. He really wanted to be able to do something. "I'll be coming home."

        "Percy, as much as I want you to come home," I heard her sigh. "As much as I want you to be safe, I want you to understand something. You need to understand something. You need to do whatever you think you have to."

        "What do you mean?"

        "I mean, do you really deep down, believe that you have to help save her? Do you think it's the right thing to do? Because I know one thing about you, Percy. Your heart is always in the right place. Listen to it."

        "You're ... you're telling me to go?"

        "I'm telling you that," I heard her hesitate. "You're getting too old for me to tell you what to do. I'm telling you that I'll support you, even if what you decide to do is dangerous. I can't believe I'm saying this."

        "Mom—"

         I heard a toilet flush.

        "I don't have much time," Sally said. "Percy, whatever you decide, I love you. And I know you'll do what's best for Annabeth."

        "How can you be sure?"

        "Because she'd do the same for you."

        That's all there was of the conversation. I heard Percy climb into bed and I slowly fell asleep.

                                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

        I was awoken in the middle of the night by a banging on the door. I heard the conversation between Percy and Blackjack pass. It was weird being able to understand a Pegasus, but it was a cool weird. I heard them leave and knew it was time to put my plan into action.

        I quickly went to my backpack and took out my Red Sox cap and put it on my head. I lifted an arm and saw that it was invisible. I smiled. I was right, it had invisibility just like Annabeth's Yankees cap. I quickly changed into my jeans, tennis shoes, and a new shirt. I put my secret supplies into my backpack and slung it over my back. I snuck out to the shed. I knew there were weapons there and I tested a few swords out. I chose the one that felt the most comfortable in my grip, though it was far from perfect.

        My next destination was the dining pavilion. I found Nico crouching behind a pillar. I walked, as quietly as possible, right past him and sat farther down the table of where the two hunters were sitting. They didn't seem to notice me, luckily.

        I didn't really pay attention to anything Bianca and Zoe were saying. I focused on right behind where Nico was hiding. I saw Blackjack land and saw Percy climb off of him. I watched him put on Annabeth's magic cap and disappear from sight.

        I was only half listening to the hunter's conversation. I was mostly waiting for them to leave so that Percy would be heading out to follow them. You might have guessed my plan by now. Yes, I was going to go with Percy to follow the quest. I wasn't going to let him do this alone. We were going to do this together, or not at all.

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