Percy

In the end, we had decided that Annabeth, Hazel, Leo and I would go to Athena's temple to retrieve the weapons.

I had told the Questers the story, leaving out some parts like me and Annabeth making up (don't really think they needed to know we were mad at each other in the first place) or how I had been getting somewhat jealous of Adrian (hey, he was flirting with Annabeth. My Annabeth). Anyways, once Annabeth and I had explained the predicament to the group, their faces had fallen.

"Well, that stinks," Mark piped up, his eyes downcast.

"Yeah. Stinks as bad as Hades underwear," Leo said soberly. Hazel rolled her eyes, but then she looked at us.

"If they need weapons and we don't have them," she started, "why do you two look so happy?"

I let the grin spread across my face. My eyes drifted to Annabeth, "Annabeth found a way we could get weapons," I said proudly. She smiled sheepishly, a small smile that I found adorable. Again, I went back to talking. I told them how we needed to get back to Athena's temple, and that we could probably get Thalia and Piper. Jason looked considerably happy when I announced that.

"We just need to go really soon," I said. "Lord Caspion gave us a deadline, and if we want to make it in time, we have to hurry."

"I'll go with to help get Piper!" Jason said excitedly. He immediately turned tomato red, and tried to cover up his words with stutters. "I- I mean, I'll, uh, I'll go with to get the weapons. Not because of- yeah- Piper. I mean! I want to get Piper, but not, you know- yeah, I- never mind." He stared at his shuffling feet while the Questers around him rolled their eyes, looking amused.

I shook my head, smirking, but I had to turn him down. "I'm sorry, but no, Jason. You're one of my second-in-commands, I need you and Nico to stay here and help with the Questers. I want you guys to start heading down south so we can start on our journey to Antikythera. You and Nico need to help with the moving and everything."

"Well, I know I have to go," Annabeth said. I nodded.

"I'm going, too," I said. I saw Travis mutter something to his brother, and I caught most of what he was saying: "-no better than Jason. They're so lovesick it's disgusting." He snickered, his brother following his actions. I glared at them, and they bit their lips, struggling to stop their chortling.

"I'm going because I'm the captain and I need to help with getting the weapons," I said dangerously, directing my words to them. "No other reason."

"Right," Travis said between snorts.

Connor added his words, "Of course,"

I gave them one last look before turning back to the rest of the group. My eyes landed on Hazel.

"You should probably be one to come, Hazel," I said, addressing the daughter of Hades. "Since the daggers are celestial bronze, maybe you could help us get them out with your powers."

"I can make a sack that will hold all the weapons," Leo suggested. "Without it breaking, too."

I nodded, "Then maybe we can take a few extra pegasi to help us bring them back. That sounds like a full group: Annabeth, Hazel, Leo and I. Good?" I looked around for affirmation. Not that anybody was really going to object, seeing as I made the decision and I'm the captain. I once again was reminded of Chris Rodriguez as my eyes didn't find him. It hurt to know that he betrayed us, his family, but I accepted it grimly and moved on. I couldn't afford to let that stop me, especially since I knew that his betrayal probably wouldn't be the only incident that hurts me in the near future.

"Well," I started when everybody nodded in agreement, "we need to get going. It's already nightfall and we have to be back by dawn." And with that, the Questers dispersed. As Hazel, Leo, and Annabeth went to get ready to go, Jason and Nico came up to me. They gave me a questioning look, waiting for the orders I was to give them.

"I want you all to get some sleep," I said. "We've have a rough couple past nights. But you can get started early in the morning, and make your way to Argos. If needed, you can rest their for a little, but the main rendezvous point where hopefully we will meet you is Astros. If you aren't there, then we'll wait there, and vice verse. We're going to have to stop back in Corinth to drop off the weapons, but that should give you guys enough time to get to Astros. Alright?" They nodded, and I went to pack up.

Ducking into my tent, I threw some belongings into a pack. Extra clothes, my kit of armor, just in case we run into anything, some spare empty canteens, and a few other things that I thought would be useful. When I went back out, Annabeth was ready, a small pack slung over her own shoulder. She was standing by one of the pegasus that we would be bringing, Porkpie. He was the pegasus that Annabeth had ridden whenever she had needed one. He had a light tan body with cream wings. He was butting his head affectionately against Annabeth as she stroked his forehead.

"He likes you," I said as I got closer to the pair. Annabeth looked up, her startling grey eyes connecting with mine. She smiled a greeting.

"And I like him."

Her fingers flew smoothly over the pegasus' head. Dusk was rapidly approaching, and the sun was falling over the treetops. The dying sunlight lit up Annabeth's hair into golden locks, curling around her shoulders and down her back. She was facing the sun, so her eyelashes were a dark honey hitting her cheeks as she blinked. The sun put yellow flecks into her otherwise storm grey eyes, lighting them up. I realized I was staring.

"Um," I began, clearing my throat. She glanced up, raising a questioning eyebrow. "I didn't really have a plan for us, so..." I trailed off, hoping she would get the hint and make a plan. As I have said before, Athena's children were like plan-vending machines.

Her other eyebrow arched delicately, copying the one already high up on her forehead. "Well, you better start thinking, Seaweed Brain." She either didn't get the hint, or was ignoring it. I was guessing the latter.

I gave her a fixed stare. "You're going to make me ask, aren't you?"

"Ask what?" She continued innocently.

I sighed. "Can you please help me think of a plan, because frankly, my plans usually are based around risks that end up in lots of danger and fighting."

Annabeth snorted, "Got that right."

"Please?"

She tapped her chin, a quizzical look on her face as if she contemplating really hard on whether she should help or not. She seemed to grasp what she was looking for, and her eyes brightened. The finger was raised into the air, and she said, "Ye- no." She abruptly changed her answer, smirking at me.

I sighed, rolling my eyes. "Why not?"

"I seem to recall," she started, giving me a pointed look, "that the last time I made a plan, you didn't follow." I gave her a confused look.

She exhaled, "The drakon? Ring a bell, Perce?"

"Oh!" I exclaimed as I remembered. That fight with the drakon me and Annabeth had. We had to kill it to get to Mount Olympus for the council. Wow, that seemed like forever ago, when in reality it was only a few weeks back. I scrunched my eyebrows, thinking. "If I recall, your plan was to get under the drakon's guard and just try and hurt it, you didn't have a plan after that."

"Well, if I recall," Annabeth replied, "I had a very good plan to try and wound it more, and you told me it was stupid after I did it."

I rolled my eyes, "If your idea of a good plan is taking a death jump hundreds of feet up in the air onto a thrashing drakon, and then having to dodge trees, and then taking another risky jump onto Blackjack, then you probably need to rethink your plans."

"I had it under control. And your plan was for you to jump onto it as well, and then fall hundreds of feet back down onto the earth."

"Hey, I didn't say it was a good plan. I didn't even say it was a plan."

Annabeth gave me a look, her eyes flashing with annoyance, "Percy, you almost died. Then you almost killed me by leaving me undersea."

I held up a finger, "Ah, but I didn't. Here we are, alive and healthy."

The daughter of Athena pinched the bridge of her nose, taking deep breaths. "You can be so irritating, Percy."

Flashing a grin, I answered, "That's why you like me so much." She looked at me, but this time I didn't see any sarcasm or aggravation in her eyes. She just looked at me, as if tasting my words, chewing them around in her mouth. For a second, she looked like she wanted to say something, but then thought different, her mouth closing abruptly.

I frowned. What was she going to say? "Well, we're wasting time. Can you please help me with a plan? Pretty please?"

Annabeth smirked, shaking her head. "How did you and the Questers last this long with you in charge?"

"Who knows," I said shrugging. "Does that mean you'll help me?"

Her eyes took a trip up and around. "Fine, whatever, Seaweed Brain."

I gave her my signature lopsided smile, "Thanks, Wise Girl. I owe you." She scoffed, mumbling something that sounded like "add that to the list." Then she turned and stalked off the opposite way, towards the fire in the middle of camp where most of the Questers were lounging around. A few of them had been watching the small bicker Annabeth and I had with amusement.

I watched her walk away, befuddled. I just asked her to help me, now she was walking away. I cast Porkpie a boggled look, but he did the equivalent of a shrug for horses. I sighed, turning to follow Annabeth, see where she was going. She stalked up to Hazel, who was sitting next to Frank, speaking with him. I caught up in time to hear Annabeth ask the daughter of Hades something.

"How many weapons could you carry?" Annabeth asked.

Hazel bit her lip, thinking. "How many are there?"

The daughter of Athena lifted a shoulder, "Probably around a hundred daggers, and we might be able to find more weapons."

"I don't think I'd be able to suspend them in the air the whole," Hazel said with an apologetic look. "But I could probably lug them around on the ground, out of the tunnel."

Annabeth frowned, "Problem is the only way out of the tunnel that I know is through the temple itself. It's not like you wouldn't be seen. I mean, a daughter of Hades hauling a hundred celestial bronze weapons out of the temple wouldn't be totally ignored."

"But my dad had another way in," I said.

Annabeth shook her head, "But he didn't get the chance to tell you, and we probably wouldn't able to contact him to find out."

"Well, you're picking up Piper, right?" Jason chimed from across the fire. The flames leaped at the air, sparks jumping higher. They played in Jason's eyes, turned dark blue in the night. "Can't she use her charmspeak to convince people they aren't seeing what they're seeing?" I nodded, it sounded good to me. I looked at Annabeth.

She pursed her lips, "Yes, but I don't know if she can convince that many people. We'd need most of them to be away, outside or something. We need a distraction."

"I'm an expert at those," Leo said, smiling widely. "Good thing I'm going. Also, the sack I made to hold the weapons will be able to glide on the floor without any noise. And I made harnesses for the horses that can attach to the sack so we won't have to move anything, really, after getting the weapons outside." I was really liking Leo's ability. I gave him an appreciative nod, and he grinned wildly back, eyebrows wiggling. Annabeth was deep in thought.

"They could hover above the entrance to the temple, and when we get outside, they could drop down and we could be out of their pretty fast. This shouldn't be that hard, the only thing will be getting out unnoticed."

"Leave that to me and Leo," I said, putting a reassuring hand on Annabeth's shoulder. "We'll get them out."

"Without hurting anybody?" She asked, looking at me with a raised eyebrow.

I shrugged, "There might be a few broken hearts from the girls that see us, only to have us disappear." The daughter of Athena rolled her eyes, smiling.

"I need to send an Iris Message to Piper, letting her know we are coming," Annabeth said. "She'll need to help us get in, without anybody seeing us. Then I think we're good. We'll cover any details on the way there," she said. "We need to get going." She dipped her head once, declaring that we were done, and then stalked off to go message Piper. I turned as well and headed over to Blackjack, who was grazing over by the other horses. We had picked out about ten pegasi to help with the weapon carrying. Leo estimated that it would take about seven horses to carry the weapons, so that would leave three horses. We would have to double up on the ride back, but I was fine with that. Well, as long as I got to double up with a certain someone.

Boss, you are so smitten it's kinda disgusting.

I cursed mentally, totally forgetting that Blackjack could basically read my thoughts. "Oh, shut up, Blackjack," I grumbled. But I chuckled silently, rubbing his lean neck. He tossed his head, asking me when we were leaving.

"Now, if possible," I replied. "You ready?"

You bet, boss. Without further ado, he neighed loudly, calling the other nine pegasi I had picked. Nine heads popped up from among the grazing herd of horses. They whinnied a response, just as Leo appeared by my side. He was holding a small pack of extra clothes. That was all he needed, seeing as most of his tools were stored in his tool belt, which had what seemed like unlimited storage space for his tools. And extra ones. He always somehow got more and more tools. And minty candy. I stopped trying to understand it a while ago.

"Here, horsey!" Leo called, waving his arm wildly at one of the pegasi coming over to us. The horse, Guido, snorted, looking the other way.

Leo frowned, "I swear all horses hate me."

I smirked, shaking my head. But before I could reply, Annabeth walked up. She headed over to Porkpie, greeting him with a pat. She slipped her bag over the neck of Porkpie, then came back to stand next to me and Leo. Hazel and Frank came up soon, holding hands. I knew Frank was hesitant to let Hazel go without him, and I had to promise to him over and over that I would look after her for him. He gave me a slightly dubious look, but agreed. Still, he was reluctant to let her go. Hazel was trying to ease his anxiety.

"I'll be fine, Frank," she was saying now. "I'll see you soon."

The big son of Ares looked downcast, "Okay, okay. But I'll miss you."

Hazel sighed, looking at him with sheer adoration in her golden eyes, "I'll miss you, too." She stood up on the tips of her toes, craning her neck to kiss him. A slight peck, but still filled with love. Something pulled in my chest. Not jealousy, of course not. Nor sadness, or even happiness at looking at them. More like a... yearning. A wanting to do the same thing. I glanced almost subconsciously at Annabeth, and found her staring at the young couple, a thoughtful look on her countenance.

"I'll come back soon, okay?" Hazel asked, Frank's arms around her.

He nodded dejectedly, "Okay." She smiled, patted his cheek, then walked over to us. After punching a Leo who was pretending to gag at the mushiness, she turned to me. "Ready?" She asked, eyes bright. I nodded.

"Let's get going," Annabeth said with a small smile.

~-:-~

Annabeth POV

"Annabeth!" Piper squealed. She and Thalia were standing outside Athena's temple, down by the beach, at a spot where we were shielded from onlookers. It had taken four hours or so to reach Athens, thanks to the pegasi's swift flying. Percy and Leo had headed up to the temple, to scout around and think of a way to draw people out. Piper had received my message, and she said they would be by the beach.

I felt a rush of relief when I saw her choppy brown hair and wide smile, standing next to Thalia, who looked bored while she yawned dramatically. I hadn't realized how worried I was about them, that they would be okay, what with Luke and his followers going around. Now, seeing both of them, a burden lifted from my shoulders. Piper ran up to me, us colliding.

"I was so worried about you!" Piper said in my ear, hugging me tight. "You could've said something, something to have let us known you were alright!"

"Sorry," I replied. "I just got out of Luke's hands last night." As I said that, it felt like it had been at least a week ago that Luke had captured me, but it wasn't. Time flew when you were having fun, I guess. And since this isn't quite fun, I guess it was going slowly. Not that I was complaining, it gave us more time to think. Well, not literally. It just felt like more time. You know what I mean? Yeah, I don't really either. Never mind.

I saw Thalia walking up to us, her eyebrows raised. "Finally come back for us? I thought you'd forgotten about your best friends." I smiled, rolling my eyes. Thalia wouldn't be Thalia without her attitude. I disentangled myself from Piper, who moved to greet Hazel standing by me. Thalia's dark hair was pulled back, and she had sarcasm in her eyes. I held out my arms wide, a mocking, inviting air to my manner.

Thalia exhaled exaggeratedly, then trudged up to me. But her hug was tight, and she whispered into my ear, "It's good to see you, Annie." I smiled, hugging my friend tighter.

The daughter of Zeus leaned back, "We need to get going, though. Who'd you bring to help out?"

Piper turned to listen, her expression eager. "Percy and Leo, Jason and Nico stayed behind to get the others moving towards Astros." Piper's countenance fell a little upon the news, and I hid my smirk. "But we'll see the rest of the Questers in less than a day, hopefully, if everything goes as planned." Piper's face lifted back up.

Thalia noticed everything I had, and sighed again, muttering something about "sappiness" and "disgusting." She turned without another word, heading back to Athena's temple up the hill. I grinned at her figure walking away, then started following her, Piper and Hazel in tow. I heard the two behind me talking, filling each other in. I knew Thalia was listening from up ahead.

The crescent moon in the ebony sky was surprisingly bright, lighting up the narrow, dirt pathway we were walking on. The path wound its way around the hill, heading up to Athena's temple but in a back way, so there wouldn't be as many people. Still, we all had hoods on our tunics, hiding our faces from anyone who happened to see us and might recognize us. A pack holding the sack that all the weapons would eventually be put in was slung around my shoulder, over my tunic, in dark cloth. My golden-colored hair was in a braid tucked into my dark grey tunic, and I felt it tickling the back of my neck as my feet dug into the hard-packed earth ground. The air smelled like ocean and dirt.

Glancing at the sky, I tried to see if I could spot any sign of Percy or Leo, but I couldn't see anything.

"Looking for your boyfriend?" Thalia had dropped back a few paces to walk beside me.

I rolled my eyes, "He's not my boyfriend, Thals."

She shrugged, her black tunic rustling. "Rigut, could've fooled me. You guys act like you're a couple."

"We do not."

"Yes, you do."

"No, we don't."