The Mark of Athena,Heroes of Olympus, Book 3

Annabeth VIII


Annabeth hated fainting. Whenever she did, she always had horrible nightmares. Most of the time, her friends were all dead around her and she was fighting a boy who kept changing from Luke to Percy. And she always ended up dying in the end.

But now, all she wanted was to faint. She couldn't bear having someone on the same quest as she was-the one she seemed to need to lead-dying. It seemed so much scarier than when Ella was shouting it out, followed by random facts.

"Annabeth? Are you okay?" Percy's voice sounded distant, like he had when Annabeth had tried to contact him in her dreams.

Annabeth felt like she was drowning. Drowning in darkness.

The last thing Annabeth thought was that she was glad Percy was holding her.

XXXXXXX

When Annabeth woke up, she expected to see the familiar walls of her cabin at camp. She expected to see Leo shaking her, reminding her that they needed to work on the ship NOW!

She opened her eyes and mumbled, "Shut up, Le...."

Yeah, she saw the walls of her cabin, but she was on the Argo II. Then everything came rushing back, giving Annabeth a major headache.

"Please tell me I was dreaming," Annabeth moaned into her pillow.

"I could tell you that, but then I'd be lying." Piper smirked as Annabeth pulled her face out of her pillow.

"You okay?" she asked. Annabeth nodded.

"Just so you know, your not the only one who passed out. Frank shot Octavian with a really blunt arrow."

"Now I'm grouped with Octavian. My day just keeps getting better and better."

"Days. You were out for two days! By the way Piper, this door can close!" Leo shouted while running by. Piper growled and slammed the door shut. The door fell off its hinges and clattered to the ground.

"I don't know how, but you planned this!" screamed Piper.

"Oh, yeah, I did!" yelled Leo while running by again.

"What the heck are you doing?" asked Annabeth.

"Running back and forth, why?"

"Ow!" yelled Percy, followed by a thump. "Ow!"

"Leo, stop!" Piper shouted. Leo skidded to a stop.

"Ow," Percy muttered.

"You're safe." Piper stuck an arm out as if she was guiding Percy in. "Please ignore the door on the floor." AN: THAT RHYMES!

"Good. I think I need to murder Leo."

"Hurry, please," Annabeth begged. Percy laughed.

"You okay?"

That's the question on everyone's mind? Annabeth thought.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Kind of... freaked out. That's all. How about you?"

"Pretty good, considering Leo just ran over me twice." Annabeth laughed. She couldn't believe that she was this lucky. To have a boyfriend like Percy, and after eight months of him not remembering, he remembered just before she got there.

Annabeth now knew that Hera had nothing to do with his memory.

"Trying to figure out the prophecy?" Percy asked.

"Huh? Oh. Mmm-hmm," Annabeth lied. Smooth, Annabeth thought scornfully.

"No, you weren't. You're a horrible liar."

"I do need to work on that." Annabeth's mind turned toward the prophecy. The mark of Athena burns through Rome? What was that supposed to mean?

"Who do you think we're rescuing?" Annabeth asked.

"Nico," Percy said at once. "He went to Rome looking for the Doors of Death and Gaea said she captured him. I still don't get why she'd do that."

"Capture Nico? Use him as bait for Hazel. Plus, Gaea knows that you and Frank won't let her go alone, then I'll go with you. It starts a whole chain reaction and then we have a whole lot of people for Gaea to knock out."

"That makes sense... think he could be the eighth in the prophecy?"

"Maybe, but these things are tricky. They have double meanings. Wisdom's daughter walks alone? She-I refuse to acknowledge that it's me-may literally be walking alone, or she could just be on her own, like no one agrees with her. The mark of Athena burns through Rome? There could literally be a fire in Rome, but that's probably not it. You don't destroy what you want to attain."

"Why would she want to attain it?"

"Think about it. L-Kronos had an army-it had mostly monsters, but there's probably going to be some demigods there too. She won't destroy this place when she can use it to train her soldiers."

"One will walk into death's arms... Could that be whoever we rescue?"

"I don't know. But, I've been thinking-who are the seven demigods in the prophecy?"

"Piper, Leo, Jason, Hazel, Frank, me, and-according to the prophecy-a daughter of Athena."

"AKA you!" shouted Leo as he ran by once again.

"By-" Leo ran by, shouting words as he passed by the door. "-the way-Octa-vian-called-a-meet-ing!" Annabeth stood up and waiting for Leo to just pass her door before running for the exit.

"OW!" yelled Percy again, grabbing Leo's leg as he ran by. Leo toppled to the ground, but popped up and kept running.

"Let's go!" Leo exclaimed.