Annabeth Chase

Nico didn't even stick around camp long enough to actually tell us that Percy's alive. He stopped by, apparently, told Chiron, and Chiron told us.

After that, he left for some job his dad had for him.

Hedge issued the alarm to come finish the recruit for the demigods he had been watching, though, and with recent developments, Chiron was suspecting that Percy might be among them. That maybe he got sent their way for some reason.

Chiron said a demigod with one shoe, and that sounds like Seaweed Brain in trouble, so I'm going to try.

I don't know, I would take literally any excuse for it if it meant he was actually there because it's been like three days with nothing and I'm losing my mind because Grovers getting literally nothing from their mental link, and that's bad.

So Butch Walker and I are now on a pegasi drawn chariot, over the Grand Canyon as Hedge and what appears to be three demigods are battling a few different... Storm spirits?

Weird.

Before I can put much thought into it, though, the spirit disappears, and he took Hedge with him, so...

I'll have to tell Chiron about that.

We land, though, and walk over to try and find our son of Poseidon and I'm scanning the crowd of students and I can see the three who were fighting and...

He's not here.

"Hey, who..." The tallest of the three of them, a guy a little taller than Percy asked. "Who are you guys? Can we help you?"

"Were looking for a friend who went missing three days ago," I said, careful not to say a demigod because... They don't know. Yet. "He may be one with one shoe. Shorter than you, dark hair. Green eyes, a tanner complexion."

"I don't have green eyes, and we got nobody else with that description here," the other guy told me as him and their last friend- a girl their age walked up to us. "There's some mean kids who tried to kill us, I don't think it was them, though."

I shook my head, insisting that he'd be human.

"He's only got one shoe," Butch pointed out to me, pointing down to the Blondie's feet. "It's him."

And he was right. He only had one shoe on.

So I was wrong.

It wasn't Percy.

It was some random kid from out west that was already getting recruited with his friends.

"Wh- oh, yeah, it fell off earlier," he figured, shrugging.

"Yeah," the girl retorted. "When you flew back up the Grand Canyon. How'd you even do that?"

Oh no.

"You flew?" I asked him.

"Yeah! It was weird, but I think I did."

"What's your guy's name?"

Because I don't think they'll come with us if we're strangers because Hedge is gone so the plan is fucked.

"Leo!" The curly haired guy was pretty excited to make another friend. "Valdez. Leo Valdez, from Houston."

This was a boarding school?

I guess that's not weird for demigods, though. Parents don't like monsters.

Selfish of them, considering the fact that they chose to have the kid with the god or goddess, but rhahs a different tangent for another day.

"Piper McLean," the girl told me, extending her hand out for me to shake it, and I recognized the last name from somewhere. "Jason's the Superman here, but don't ask him much else. He seems to have amnesia right now, so... Sorry if that affects anything."

"No, you're good, it's okay," I indisited. "Um, so originally yoir coach was supposed to come with us because that's why he was here, but Hedge is gone. My name is Annabeth, this is Butch, and we're going to be bringing you to a camp, basically, so you can be safe and not get attacked again like you just did and hopefully find out who your other parent is."

"Other parent?" Jason questioned. "Do I not know my parents?"

So he's really has amnesia, got it.

"Um, you probably know one of them and.you might even have a step-parent," I insisted as I urged them towards the chariot before we got too much attention so we can leave. "It's okay, when we get to camp, we can try to figure out who your mortal parent is."

And we were in the air.

Because of the chariot the Apollo cabin thankfully loaned us, not because of Jason.

"Mortal?" Leo asked. "What does mortal parent mean? Like my dad isn't mortal?"

I sighed.

"Yeah, he's not," I confirmed. "So, and I hope this is less surprising after you were just attacked by storm spirits in the Grand Canyon, but you guys are half-bloods. Demigods. Whichever term you prefer, your parent that you don't know is a god or goddess. Greek. I don't know which ones, I just know that satyrs and monsters were able to sniff you guys out as demigods and in order to not get attacked by monsters and to find out who your parent is, we have to bring you a place called Camp Half Blood, which is where we're going now. It's in New York, Long Island Sound."

"So if our... Who are your parents?" Piper asked me.

"My parents?" I returned and all of them nod their heads, curious. "My dad is a professor who lives in California, but my mom is Athena. Butch here is a son of Iris."

And somebody studied ancient history.

It was Lao.

"Your mom is a rainbow goddess?" The Latino boy asked Butch, who only despised that question.

"Got a problem with that?"

Leo, logically, retreated immediately.

He's smart.

"Hm? No, no. Rainbows. Very macho and uh... Manly. Rainbow ponies."

"Mhm, and I'll toss you off this chariot."

"Yes, sorry."

After that, it went pretty quiet, and I just...

Where could he have gone? It's been three days. He's not the type to run away, and even if he did, he would have told one of us about it.

I zoned out for a bit, trying to both not think about it and figure out where the hell he might be and was only really brought back when I heard Piper ask what had me so troubled, but I didn't process her voice, much less the question before Butch answered.

"Oh, we had a demigod that went missing three days ago and Annabeth was really hoping he'd be with one of you guys," Butch explained to them. "I wasn't close to the dude, but it's still weird that he went missing so suddenly. Don't mind her."

"Who's the dude?" Leo asked.

"It's Annabeth's best friend and hopeless crush," because who hasn't heard of that rejection. "A guy named Percy Jackson."

"Percy... Was his like, family famous or anything?" Piper asked. "That sounds like a name I heard when I was a kid."

I shook my head.

"No, but he made the news because of how sideways his trip to camp went," I explained to her. "It's a long story, but he was assumed missing and was suspected of killing his mom but she wasn't dead because Hades had her and so it was on the news for a few weeks like five years ago."

"Ohhhh yeah it was a thing they talked about in school to like, talk to us about not getting kidnapped," Leo seemed to recall, which is wild that they talked about that. "it was really weird."

"Yeah, he wasn't kidnapped, either," I clarified. "that's how it was framed for a lot of reasons, but he was on a quest and ran into Ares a few times, so they painted Ares as the kidnapper and Percy as victim."

Piper made some remark after that about how the media can twist almost anything into something it's not before we hit a gust of wind and then completely lost control, pummeling into the lake with a chariot that now needed to be fixed.

"Hey, Annabeth?" Leo asked me. "What's this thing above my head?"

"Wh-"

And damn did he work fast.

"Your dad," Will Solace was here and I've been happier to see him, but not since the battle. "Your dad is Hephaestus, God of fire and forges. My name is Will, son of Apollo and counselor of the Apollo cabin. Come on, I'll take you to meet your siblings and help you get settled in."

Taking him for his offer, Leo went with the son of Apollo, and I saw a hand reach down to help me up. Jason's.

It had a tattoo. But he's a child so it wasn't just any tattoo...

"Need help?" He suggested as I let him help me up.

The tattoo had the letters SPQR with an eagle and like, a dozen lines.

He's Roman.

Why would we bring a Roman demigod to Camp Half Blood?

"Thanks," I said as Drew walked over and pulled Jason away.

Why would there be a Roman demigod with Greek demigods? Who would do that?

Making a note to talk to Chiron (assuming he wouldn't notice it himself), I knew that I should do my job and show Piper around the camp.

"Okay," I started off. "Let's start where you can choose your own fun: the armory."