Part I of The Floor is Lava

Inspired by Community S5E5: "Geothermal Escapism."

Annabeth POV

The New Rome Seven is having one of their routine study sessions for their senior capstone seminar, which doesn't include any extensive studying—just figuring out what the assigned reading is about without doing any actual reading. There's this warm feeling lingering in the air, the kind you used to get in kindergarten when the teacher would feed you Christmas cookies and you'd wear your pajamas and watch The Polar Express. It's sort of similar, except it's springtime and our favorite study group is in their twenties.

That's right. Spring break is upon us and the ADHD study group and Frank are struggling to contain their excitement.

"Dude," says Jason, "I kinda feel like I could run a marathon. Is that weird?"

"What are you guys doing for spring break?" Hazel asks.

Piper says, "Jason and I are going up to Mount Tam for a little engagement photoshoot."

Leo clears his throat.

"And we're taking Leo."

"None of you better be wearing green or I swear to God it will clash with the environment and-"

"Okay, Leo!" says Jason. "You just appointed yourself the costume designer too. Congrats."

Leo groans. "I have been on Pinterest for hours trying to find some cute poses; can you give me a break?"

"No," the happy couple says in unison.

The intercom crackles and blares a new announcement from Dean D. "Good morning, New Rome! Spring has sprung, but before spring break officially begins, the folks at the Campus Activities Office have something special planned for you all. Is everyone sitting down? Great, because we've got a game for you all with high stakes! That's right, the winner will receive round-trip Southwest airline tickets, courtesy of Flex Seal LLC."

"Wow, that's really nice," says Hazel.

"All you have to do is win this game, which starts right now. Attention all students: the floor is officially lava!"

"Oh shit!" Piper shouts, lifting her feet off the ground.

Leo hops onto the table and addresses each of his friends. "Alliance? Alliance?"

Jason stands up in his chair and goes into full panic mode. "How can this be happening? We're not even wearing ridiculous costumes!"

Frank wrings his hands and looks at the empty seat next to him. "I don't want to come off like I don't care because I really am happy for you guys getting married and all, but has anyone seen Percy and Annabeth?"

✎✎✎

If you asked Annabeth this morning how she thought she'd be spending the last few hours leading up to her spring break, she would not have predicted being stranded on a footstool in the middle of the student lounge with her nemesis, Percy Jackson.

Needless to say, she's a little bit pissed. "You could have chosen any spot in this room, but you chose the same footstool as me? What the hell, Seaweed Brain?"

"I panicked, okay?" he shouts back.

"Stop yelling! I can smell your fish stick breath!"

"You never complained about my fish stick breath when we were-"

"Okay, okay," Annabeth says. "Plan Time."

"Thank God."

She points to the pool table across the room. "We're going to get out of the lounge, and then lay low until this game is over and we're the last ones standing."

"So we are playing?" he asks.

What an idiot. "Yes, Kelp Head. We established this when the dean said the prize is a roundtrip airline ticket."

Percy looks at her, not a single thought behind those ocean eyes.

Annabeth groans. "We're getting you home for spring break."

With funds being a little tight, Percy got the cheapest plane ticket home available, which also means he got the most unreliable one, and now his flight is canceled. Because she has this weird duty to support her frenemy in his time of need, she's going to play Brunner and Dean D's stupid game. He'd do the same for her.

"I appreciate it, but you really don't have to."

"I know," Annabeth says. "Hang on to something."

"Why?"

Without answering, she settles in a crouch at the edge of their shared footstool, ready to pounce.

Percy winces. "Please don't."

She goes for it, and even sticks the landing. Then, she turns to Percy, stranded alone on the footstool.

"Well?" she asks. "Are you coming?"

He looks at the carpeting as if it's actually made of lava and his life is at risk. He tries to reach the table with his foot, which obviously doesn't work because he's not that much taller than Annabeth.

"Listen," he complains. "I know you get this whole god-complex thing whenever Dean D and Mr. Brunner plan these outrageous competitions, but can you chill for a minute? I mean, I won't even be able to cash in on the prize if Frank and I can't take care of the roaches in our apartment..."

And by god-complex, he means hubris, of course. Did that boy learn a thing in Greek and Roman Mythology with Mr. Brunner? Apparently not.

"Good god, Percy, just jump!" Annabeth hisses.

Percy crouches and assesses the length from the footstool to the pool table. Then, he freakin' closes his eyes and makes the jump.

"Oof!" he shouts when the corner of the pool table stabs him in the gut.

It's his own fault, so Annabeth just rolls her eyes and then pulls him up onto the felt.

"Appreciate it," he says, clutching his stomach.

"Yup." Annabeth slides a red resin ball into a corner pocket and surveys her situation. They're in the lounge pool room, which has the table they're sitting on—duh. You can get the balls and cue sticks from the information desk, which means that somebody definitely forgot to return the equipment when the floor turned into lava. The room is disconnected from the rest of the lounge with this glass wall, not unlike the one surrounding the study bubble Annabeth and Percy had sex in at the end of their freshman year—a situation not unlike this, which she really shouldn't be thinking about. The lounge has a reasonable amount of furniture, and plenty of walls to hide behind, making it the perfect spot for an all-out floor-is-lava battlefield.

Annabeth would prefer to win with her brains, and not push her friends off footstools Lion King-style, so she maps an escape route.

"Alright," she says, "there's another footstool over there. Think you can make it?"

"Maybe?" Percy asks. "I thought we were laying low..."

"That's for after we escape the lounge," she snaps back. The second footstool is an easy jump from the pool table. Annabeth will just have to reach the door and then drag herself to the next piece of furniture, probably one of those rotating chairs. There aren't quite enough things with wheels in here.

She explains the plan to Percy and then grunts as she makes the jump, but she underestimates the difficulty and ends up clutching the top of the footstool like it's a raft in a swimming pool. She probably looks ridiculous, but there's bigger fish to fry.

Quickly, she shifts herself so that there's space for Percy.

"I'm never going to fit," he says flatly.

"Yes, you will."

"I mean, yeah, but you're not going to be very happy when I completely pummel you and you fall into the lava," he says, putting air quotes around 'lava.' 

Annabeth grips the sides of the footstool. "You were saying?"

"I'm not very flexible. If one of us is going to win this game, it's you," he mutters, propping his toes against the edge of the table anyway.

He's right; he may be a swimmer, but Annabeth's the former track star. Sprints were more her forte, but she's been known to rock the long jump from time to time.

"Wait," she says before he leaps. "Pass me that cue stick."

Percy raises an eyebrow but does as he's told.

"Now put some of those balls in your sweatshirt pocket."

"But it'll stretch out the fabric," he complains. All he does is complain.

Annabeth rolls her eyes. "Just do it. You've had that hoodie since freshman year. Are you even on the intramural rugby team anymore?"

The answer is no, he is not on the intramural rugby team anymore. He realized how violent it can be and then quit. He grumbles something under his breath and pockets some of the resin balls anyway.

As he predicted, he overshoots the distance and slams right into Annabeth. She grunts as her spine hits the wall, but refuses to admit to any pain. Pain is for wimps. Annabeth came to win. Percy Jackson will go home for spring break if it is the last thing she does.

She reaches for the door handle, only wobbling a little bit, and passes it to Percy.

He must have finally learned to cooperate with Annabeth's genius plan because he just shrugs and holds the door open for her.

She grabs onto the door frame to pull the footstool around the corner but is unfortunately interrupted.

"Damn Valhalla students," Percy mutters under his breath.

Magnus and his partner Alex cackle like banshees from atop their spinning chairs.

Great. Company. Just what Annabeth needed.

"We'll take it easy on you if you jump into the lava," Alex sneers.

Helpful as ever, Magnus adds, "Pop! Pop!"

Annabeth raises her cue stick.

"No way," says Percy. "This is mad."

"Is it?" she asks. "They don't even go here." Next to Alex is another rotating chair, and next to Magnus is yet another one, but neither has wheels. Annabeth and Percy need a way out of here and fast.

"What'll it be?" Alex taunts.

"You take Alex," Annabeth says.

"With what?"

Alex cackles. "Your girlfriend really threw you under the bus, huh? Magnus, you know what to do."

"Pop! Pop!" Magnus scooches his chair, leaving horrible tread marks against the floor.

The foosball table! It's on wheels!

She has got to have that foosball table for her and Percy.

Annabeth raises her stick and starts swinging while Percy cowers behind her. She ducks to avoid taking a sneaker Nunchuk to the face but accidentally puts Percy in the line of fire.

"Ouch!"

"Sorry, Seaweed Brain!"

Shoot. While Annabeth was distracted, Alex scooted his chair closer to the foosball table.

"Percy!"

"Before I pelt you with some weapons of my own, I'll need to know your pronouns so I can properly insult you while I do it," he says. This is no time for formalities!

"He/him—hold up—you're going to what now?" Alex raises his eyebrows in shock as a striped pool ball flies past his curly green hair.

Annabeth and Magnus turn around and stare at Percy in shock. Those could bruise, and for once, Percy doesn't care.

She snaps out of her trance and goes back to beating Magnus repeatedly with her cue stick as if that isn't any less violent than Percy pelting someone with colorful resin balls.

With one expert jab to the gut, Magnus yelps and his entire seat topples over backward and onto the floor. He cries out one last, "Pop! Pop!" as he sinks into the lava.

"Magnus, no!" Alex shouts.

Percy seizes the moment of weakness and throws the magic eight-ball at Alex, who made the poor decision of standing on top of his chair. He loses his balance and joins his boyfriend on the floor.

"Any last words?" Percy teases.

"If it's the foosball table you're going for, you'll never make it..." He trails off as he is also consumed by the lava. There is no more floor in Annabeth's mind. There is only lava.

"We're not really going for the foosball table, are we?" Percy asks with a gulp. "I bet if we're quiet, we can wait it out in here."

Annabeth turns around. After all this, he still hasn't figured it out. Taking cover until the end of the game is a fantastic idea, except for the fact that it's virtually impossible. They can't make it to the end of this game without a couple more fights. Hell, they could barely last five minutes without encountering enemies, so she gives it to him straight. "Did you take nothing away from our little tussle with the Valhalla students? We've got to keep moving."

"And you plan to do this how?"

He should really know this by now—not the plan itself, but that there is one. When Annabeth is involved, there is always a plan.

"Let's just say I dabbled in a couple of different high school track and field events."

"We've never talked about your history with the high school track team before," he says.

Pole-vaulting is something that Annabeth should not be doing, especially with a heavily used cue stick, but nevertheless, she does.

She presses the tip of the stick to the floor and takes a deep breath. Then, just like in high school, she launches herself across the room. It's a good thing this isn't a high school track meet because her form is awful and she doesn't get quite enough height, but then again, height isn't exactly her priority.

She's going for distance, and holy shit, she makes it. The foosball table moves a little upon the impact, which she should have seen coming. It's on wheels.

"Okay, here I come," she says, using the cue stick as sort of an oar to push herself and the foosball table over to Percy, who is still stranded on the footstool.

"Ouch!" Alex yelps when Annabeth accidentally rolls herself over his finger.

She winces. "Sorry!"

Finally, she pulls the foosball table next to Percy's island of a footstool. "You ready, Seaweed Brain?"

"I guess," he sighs.

Can this thing hold the weight of two college students? There's no time like the present to find out.

Annabeth presses her improvised oar to the ground in hopes of steadying herself while Percy makes a sad attempt at climbing aboard the S.S. Chase.

In his state of surprise, he clutches her arm for some balance, accidentally leaning his face in super close to hers. They haven't been this close since that kind of proximity wasn't an accident.

"Hey," he says with a shy chuckle.

"Welcome aboard," says Annabeth, but she's sure it doesn't come out as smooth as she hopes. All she can do is silently pray that Percy won't notice the redness creeping up the bridge of her nose.

Percy clears his throat and lets go of her arm. "Sorry about that," he says. "Where to, Captain?"

"Still deciding on that one," Annabeth says, clutching her cue stick for dear life.

"Annabeth Chase doesn't have a plan? I'm shocked."

She rolls her eyes and drops her voice to a whisper. "Can I tell you something?"

He nods and mimes zipping his lips shut. He even locks them and puts the key in his pocket.

"There was never a plan. This has all been improvising," she says, giggling a bit. She never giggles.

"Cool," he says. "Well, if you don't mind, I'm going to take this here paddle and steer us over to the Campus Activities Office. You let me know when you figure it out."

"Will do," she says with a goofy salute.

When he takes the cue stick, his fingers brush against hers, but they both pretend not to notice—or maybe he doesn't notice. Annabeth's not sure, and she probably shouldn't care.

Percy swings his leg over the side of the foosball table, putting him in a straddle directly in front of Annabeth, and she sort of has this urge to hold his waist like they're on a motorcycle. She should not have that urge. This foosball table probably can't even reach five miles per hour.

✎✎✎

"Remind me again why we're at the Campus Activities Office?" Annabeth asks.

"You wanna go there?" Billie Ng groans from the floor.

"Shut up, Billie. You're melting in the lava now," Annabeth says, poking her latest victim with the cue stick.

Percy takes the cue stick and continues pushing through the door to the Campus Activities Office. "I actually didn't tell you about this," he says.

"Okay?"

"Hey, Lacy!" he says, greeting the girl at the front desk.

She smiles up at them. Oh, she got her braces off finally. Good for her. "Hey, guys!" she says. "What brings you here? The game still isn't over."

"I actually came to pick up my prize from the raffle," Percy says.

"Oh, congrats! Can I have your student ID number?"

"Are you kidding me?" Annabeth hisses.

Percy fumbles for his student ID card in his wallet and then reads the number to Lacy. After four years, he still doesn't have his student ID number memorized.

Lacy chirps, "Okay!" and then runs off to a closet. She must not be playing the game. Considering she works for the Campus Activities Office now, she might be on the planning committee.

"Sorry," Percy says to Annabeth. "I won this raffle like a week ago for answering a couple of trivia questions at a Latin Club event and today's the last day to pick up the prize."

Annabeth snorts. "I'm sorry. You're in the Latin Club? You hated that class!"

"No, actually. Jason got an extra entry for bringing a friend to the event. He's on the E-board."

"No shit."

"Yep," he says. "He's the vice president. The joke's on him though because I won the blanket."

Annabeth facepalms. "The prize is a blanket? Percy, that's not even helpful."

"So? It's a nice blanket, and who says it can't be helpful? What if you get cold while we're kicking ass?"

"I'll tell you what, you sorry-"

"Here ya go, Percy!" Lacy chirps, handing him the ugliest golden fleece blanket Annabeth's ever seen.

"Thank you so much, Lacy! We'll be on our way, then."

But then Annabeth sees something that convinces her that this side-quest to the Campus Activities Office isn't a complete waste of time. Sitting in the corner between a bulletin board and a broken photocopier is Mr. Brunner's Jazzy scooter.

That's a lot more efficient than the foosball table.

"Give me the cue stick."

"Oh, so now you know where you want to go?" Percy taunts.

"No, but at least I know how we're going to get there!" She grabs the stick and pushes the foosball table toward the Jazzy.

"Uh," Lacy says, interrupting Annabeth's awesome plan. "I don't know if you can take that."

Seemingly catching onto the plan, Percy asks, "Is that written in the rules?"

"Well, no, but-"

"Cool! This is ours now," says Annabeth. She passes the cue stick to Percy and climbs into the seat. It's so much more comfortable than the tiny soccer players poking her ass.

"Where am I supposed to go?" Percy asks.

They made the foosball table work. Why can't he make the Jazzy scooter work too?

Annabeth points to the basket in front of her.

"No way," he says. "I am not sitting in there like a crusty white dog."

She whistles the way you would to a crusty white dog. "Here, boy! Get in the basket!"

Percy rolls his eyes. It's apparent to Annabeth that he does not want to sit in the basket. Perhaps he finds sitting in the basket dehumanizing, or simply is embarrassed to be a hotshot swimmer riding in the basket of a Jazzy stolen from a disabled person. Annabeth does not care.

She doesn't care that Percy's embarrassed. The thought that she stole the Jazzy from a disabled person did cross her mind, however, the Jazzy is Mr. Brunner's secondary mode of transportation. He still has his usual electric wheelchair. Plus, she plans on putting this back where she found it once she wins the game. Therefore, she is not taking advantage of a disabled person.

She chuckles under her breath as she identifies all the controls. There aren't many, so what are the odds she'll make a mistake and break this thing? She revs what little engine the Pride Mobility Vehicle has and then starts steering, Percy shaking from in the basket.

"Annabeth, slow down. I'm slipping," he warns.

"I know what I'm doing."

"Do you?"

She does not, but she'll certainly figure it out. She maneuvers their hot wheels into the hallway and cruises towards the other end of the Big House.

"Hey!" someone yells from atop a desk.

"I see it too, bro!"

Annabeth scowls. "Stolls."

"Forget what I said about safety," says Percy. "Punch it, Wise Girl."

She pushes the little 'forward' button hard enough that her nails turn white, but doesn't get any sort of speed boost from the mobility vehicle. Where's Leo when you need him?

"Give us that scooter!" Travis shouts from on top of a desk.

"Yeah, or we'll push you into the lava!" Connor says.

It's a desperate cry for help; they're stuck on top of the admissions desk. Who let Travis and Connor become tour guides? What sane person thought that was a good idea?

"Drive real close to them," Percy says.

"We can get away, Percy," Annabeth says. "No need to deal with them."

"We won't win if they don't fall into the lava at some point."

Shit. He's right.

Percy tosses the blanket to Annabeth and takes the cue stick from her.

She drives the Jazzy close to the Stolls so Percy can reach with the weapon.

Travis and Connor panic, but their efforts are fruitless. They trip over the cue stick and one another and then fall into the hot lava below.

Percy blows the tip of the cue stick like it's a gun and he's a hero in a cowboy movie. "That's what you get for calling our eighth model Pride Jazzy Zero Turn a scooter!"

"Interesting victory cry," Annabeth notes. She puts the Jazzy back in drive and navigates out the door.

"Where to?" Percy asks.

She wraps the blanket around her shoulders because it's cold as heck in here. "I'm thinking the dining hall. That'll be a good place to make a lot of kills fast."

"Are you sure? It's an open field."

"It's an open field with a shit ton of furniture, and we'll probably be the only mobile ones in there."

"I'd compliment your plan," Percy says, "but you probably already know it rocks."

She feels lucky to be in the back of the vehicle because damn, that compliment was smooth, and she is a little surprised to hear it from the guy who's only shown friendly interest in her for the past year. Not that she minds. It's not like she's looking for anything more than friendship with her former friend-with-benefits.

He turns around for a quick glance, probably because of her quietness. Shoot, she should've come up with some snarky reply to that.

Instead of calling her out for becoming flustered, he takes note of the golden fleece wrapped around her and says, "I told you so."

✎✎✎

The dining hall is a ghost town.

There's no way. There's no possible way that nobody has claimed this as territory, which is why Annabeth is a little more than hesitant to drive Mr. Brunner's Jazzy scooter through the middle of the room. It's a wide-open space. There could be people hiding in the booths or behind the counters. Hell, she wouldn't put it past some of her friends to pop out of the vents now that everyone seems to be an expert on the school's ventilation system.

"I don't understand," Percy says. "Where is everyone?"

This place was used as Hazel's base during the game of paintball assassins they played their sophomore year. How come nobody's claimed it yet? And then the year before that, it was home to the Hunters, who ambushed the study group's camp with a surprise attack.

Percy turns around and asks, "Why'd you stop?"

"Just a hunch."

"A hunch?"

"Over there," Annabeth says, pointing to the underside of a booth, where Mark from the Mars Coed Fraternity hides on the seat, clutching his head like he's in a tornado drill. Yes, Mark, she thinks, the tornado will not be able to hurt you if you cover your head.

But there is no severe weather, so Mark is being completely stupid, per usual. Annabeth will never be able to fathom how Frank managed to spend almost an entire summer sharing a room with this guy.

Percy reaches into his pocket and retrieves a pool ball, winds back, and then pelts it in the direction of Sherman Yang. Upon direct impact to his kneecap, he pulls his leg up to his chest and yelps in pain.

"Hey!" Mark yells. He jumps on top of the booth, but because the table is connected only to the wall, it creaks and then falls to the floor, taking Mark and Sherman with it.

"That counts as lava!" Percy shouts.

And as if he's actually being burnt alive, he cries, "Hot lava! Hot lava! No!"

"Nice hunch," Percy says.

"I try. Be on the lookout for more." They still haven't found Clarisse or Ellis. The fraternity travels as a pack, so they're sure to be nearby.

"Woah!"

"Percy!" Annabeth cuts the engine on the Jazzy and snatches her partner by the hood before he dips his face in lava. Just feet ahead of his head is a spicy sandwich from Chick-fil-A.

Who could possibly have aimed that well?

Annabeth and Percy follow the path of the sandwich over to the Chick-fil-A counter and make eye contact with Nico di Angelo's weird Italian long-lost sister, Bianca.

"Get down!" A hand reaches up and grabs Bianca by the arm, pulling her behind the counter.

Annabeth can't really do anything but gape because in all honesty, how is she supposed to react to someone throwing a homophobic sandwich at two bisexuals? Was that a hate crime?

"Do we have enough force to take on the Hunters?" Percy asks.

"Depends," says Annabeth. After all, they've teamed up with the Mars Coed Fraternity. With Thalia's sharp mind and Clarisse's brute strength, they'll be near unstoppable. "Got any balls left in your pocket?"

"The one I threw at Mark was the last of 'em," he says.

"Go!" a woman's voice shouts. One by one, Hunters emerge from their Chick-fil-A trench and pitch sandwiches toward Annabeth and Percy.

"What are they even standing on?" Percy complains.

Annabeth raises the cue stick and whacks a sandwich out of the air. Holy shit. That wasn't supposed to work that well.

"Hold this!" Percy passes a corner of his new blanket to Annabeth, and together, they shield themselves from the sandwiches.

"Ahaha! If it isn't Smartass and Fishboy!" Clarisse bellows.

"Nice one, Clarisse," says Ellis.

Annabeth looks to Percy for some indication that he's ready to regroup and take down the Greek alliance, but he's... He's filling the Jazzy basket with spicy chicken sandwiches and weird little ketchup packets.

"Switch me," he says. "You go after Ellis and Clarisse, and I'll take care of the Hunters."

She wants to say something along the lines of there's no way! or You're a complete idiot!

But he trusted her crazy plans, even when she was just making things up as she went. Maybe she owes it to him to let him try his crazy idea.

She steers the Jazzy over to a cafeteria table and climbs out. Percy replaces her spot in the seat and puts the Jazzy in drive, riding off to his doom.

"Ready for a beating, Chase?" Clarisse asks, using chairs to make her way towards her.

Annabeth raises her cue stick like a baseball bat.

"You can't take the both of us!" says Ellis.

The cue stick was a great oar, but Annabeth can't possibly take on two enemies with one stick.

"Farewell, friend," she says to the stick before snapping it over her knee. There. Now there are two sticks, and those two sticks have sharp splintery ends.

She raises the weapons like a ninja or something. She's not sure what it's like. She did track and field in high school, not martial arts.

Anyway, she tries to make this face that says, "Come at me, bro!"

When Ellis gets close, she juts a stick toward his gut, and because he doesn't want to be impaled on this fine Thursday, he falls backward into the lava. It pays to carry a big stick.

"You're going to pay for that, you-"

"Let's not say anything that'll set the women's rights movement back now, shall we?" Annabeth retorts. She's always been one for banter, healthy or not.

"Ah, my eye!" someone cries.

"Truce for like, two seconds so I can look at this shit," Clarisse says.

One...

Percy is using his fleece blanket as a slingshot and launching once-thrown sandwiches into the Hunters hard enough to send them flying into the lava.

Two!

Annabeth swings her broken cue sticks as Clarisse dodges.

"Dude, you're going to give someone a splinter! You do realize the student health center hires freshmen nursing majors instead of actual professionals, right?" Clarisse asks.

"Last I heard they were hiring business majors too," Annabeth says.

"Oh god," Clarisse groans. "Anything's better than that." And with that, she jumps into the lava.

That was easy.

Percy pulls up alongside Annabeth's cafeteria table on the Jazzy, a half-eaten sandwich in his hand. "Ready to rock and roll?"

"Give me my spot back," she says.

They make the switch and Annabeth steers the Jazzy around the cafeteria, doing one last sweep for any remaining fraternity brothers or sorority sisters.

Now, the dining hall is a for-real ghost town.

"That was almost really bad," Percy notes without turning around in his perch.

Annabeth nods in agreement even though he can't see. "Should we consider expanding our alliance?"

"What?" he asks, taken aback. "I mean, I have nothing against some allies, but I didn't think that was your thing. Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't pushed me into the lava yet."

"Relax, Seaweed Brain, we're doing this for you. We'll dump the allies when we get close to the win," she explains.

"That's mean."

"Yes. Yes, it is."

Percy sighs and tosses his Chick-fil-A sandwich wrapper into a trashcan. "Alright," he says, "but let it be known I'm only doing this so I can see the Valentine my sister made for me last month. I hear it's sparkly."

"That's the spirit!" Annabeth says. "To the library!"