Annabeth

My horse whinnied.

A bolt of panic went through me, and I whipped around in my saddle to see if anyone hostile was around. But there was nobody—only my train of bodyguards and people accompanying me.

These past few weeks I have been more on edge than ever. I had recovered quickly and smoothly, thanks to ambrosia and nectar. At the moment I was now riding to Mt. Olympus, on my way to the council.

No god or goddess was with me, but I did have an escort of about ten demigod soldiers, and a few close friends. I didn't know why I had to have so many people guarding me. I mean, I bet I could beat all of them at fighting.

But Athena told me to be reasonable when I asked her that. I recalled our conversation earlier this morning.

"Um, Mom? Can I maybe . . . go on Icarus?" I asked. Icarus was my white stallion. He was an energetic and indignant thing, but I loved him, and he loved me. We understood each other better than a lot of people.

After I had asked if I could go on my beloved stallion, there was a heated argument, and Athena finally agreed to it, after a lot of, "But the robbery has gone up twice the amount in a year!" or "You know how dangerous the roads will be at this time of year?" But I finally convinced her to let me go with Icarus.

As long as I have an escort of ten expert demigod guards with me, and just a few close friends. I, of course, protested, but Athena's next words got me to be quiet again.

"Annabeth, be reasonable. You were the victim, you have to be at the council to be the official victim of the assassinator. We need to know if this assassinator is part of a group, or if he was forced, and even where he was trained. And why he wanted to kill you. Anyways, at this council, you need to be either next to me, or with Apollo or Artemis. Do not, under any circumstances, go near or converse with that horrid sea god." She had said "sea god" with so much distaste that I almost scooted away from her.

Athena was still convinced that Poseidon was the one who had wanted to kill me. And she had good reason, because Poseidon did murder my father, so many people might ask why he would stop there. But I don't believe Poseidon did it.

Athena explained to me that we would probably be staying for a week, maybe longer. Depends on how well the council goes in Mount Olumpus. Knowing the gods, we might be there a little longer than expected.

Let me explain a few things. Mount Olympus isn't exactly on earth. It currently sits about three miles above the city of Thessaloniki. Gods and goddesses can just do their magic stuff and appear out of thin air up in their home, but unfortunately for their children, that gene wasn't passed down to us. It's a bit difficult to get there on our own.

That's why we have Milo and Theto.

Milo and Theto are demigods—sons of Janus. They hold the key to getting up to Mount Olympus. They sort of teleport you in a way. They don't send someone up unless they have the "okay" from the gods to let the person up. They aren't just gonna let anybody up.

Milo and Theto, nicknamed the Teleporting Twins, died a long time ago, but were made immortal and brought back from the underworld to man the teleporter to the gods' home. But where you go to teleport is the middle of a fortress, guarded by many demigod guards trained specifically to protect the Teleporting Twins and the teleporter.

I have never been to the teleporting fortress—when I went to Mount Olympus that one time, Athena had gotten permission to transfer me with her. This time, being older and maybe a possible threat, the gods denied the request by Athena.

So I had left a week before the council to get there on time. I, fortunately, got to pick my guards. I knew quite a few of the demigod guards. I practice with them a lot. My closest friends were also chosen to be with me.

There were four sons of Ares, three sons of Apollo, and three sons of Athena. For my friends, I had a hunter, named Thalia Grace. Thalia and I have known each other ever since we were five. I was devastated when she joined the hunters, but my fears were soon ended, because Thalia visited at least three times a month. She was probably my best and closest friend. And the best archer I have ever seen. Being a hunter means she has sworn off boys, but she is not as uptight about it as the other hunters. She has quite a few friends that are male, but not too close ones.

Another one of my best friends, Piper McLean, a daughter of Aphrodite, wasn't with me now, but she was going to meet us on the way to Mt. Olympus. I hadn't seen her for at least a month now, and I was super excited to reunite. Thalia, Piper and I were all extremely close, having known each other for at least ten years.

With Thalia by my side, cracking jokes and having target practice with the guards hats, and all my guards being close friends and joked around a lot, and Icarus being as annoying as ever, reaching out to eat everything in sight, especially when I told him to stop, I knew this was going to be a fun ride.

I had no clue what was in store for me on this journey.