memory (hiatus)

Chapter 26: Falling Off A What?

Disclaimer: PJO is not mine, the plot is, however, mine. 

Annabeth's POV:

Day ten of Piper being gone, and Annabeth still wasn't loving it. It was also day 44 of Athena being gone, but Piper being gone felt.... different somehow. 

Annabeth had technically been the leader of the team.... but Piper had been the heart of the team. Piper had been the one to comfort anybody, the one who always knew the right words to say....

Oh, gods. Why was she even saying 'had been?' Piper and her mom had to be alive too... right?

Everyone was falling apart, and Annabeth wasn't sure what to do. 

With so many kidnappings, the Olympians were starting finally put more security measures in. Cameras lined every house and gate so they could see every possible angle. The cobblestone pathways had hidden motion detectors. The gate had a guard every five feet. Coach Hedge was now the assistant coach for a lot of the sports, and Grover was back, finally. Still.... was it enough?

It had to be enough. If they took one more hit.... well, Annabeth wasn't sure what she'd do. And, well, also, if there was another kidnapping, her dad had said that Zeus was considering closing Olympus completely!

The rest of her friends were also not doing too well. 

Jason, well, was kind of dying. He'd had so many painfully loud arguments with Drew in the two days, and he never wanted to talk. All he did was check all of his globes, and try to remember every day. He'd also submitted his early applications to all the Ivy League schools and stuff like that(he wanted to go to Oxford likely just to be close to Thalia), at the urging of his horrible mother, Beryl Grace. Honestly, sometimes, Annabeth just wanted to punch her in the face for how she'd abandoned Thalia and Jason. 

Percy hadn't known Piper that well, but he still felt bad, and blamed it on himself. Annabeth felt the same way about the blame, except, well, on her. Percy was throwing himself into school, something he normally didn't pay that much attention too. He'd won the swimming match last Friday, and had started to work on his applications. 

Frank was enjoying writing the gossip column in the student newspaper, and, well, really, the only one who seemed to be enjoying life at the moment. He was also heading the Suicide Prevention Society in place of Piper, and he was able to not strangle Drew, which was a noteworthy accomplishment. 

Hazel and Leo were both throwing themselves into their work. Hazel was getting close to cracking the formula of all the different gases they'd experienced, and was trying to figure out what Jason's gang really wanted. Leo was in the garage of the Hephaestus House as soon as they got out of school, and he tended to barely make it to the dinners. 

Annabeth was doing a mix of things. Piper, well, was her best friend. She's submitted her early applications. She wanted to get into a good school of course, but first she had to get through this. So, as she'd been doing for the last ten days, Annabeth put on a smile and headed downstairs. 

Her stepbrothers both were already eating at the counter, each already wearing their blue and white uniforms that they hated. Helen was sipping her coffee, and her dad was reading a newspaper. Annabeth smiled wistfully. They looked like the perfect family, when she wasn't there. 

Annabeth made her entrance. "Good morning."

She kissed her brothers on the forehead, who looked up from their pancakes. 

"Morning, Annie!" Matthew said, stabbing at a runaway pancake. 

"Hi, Annie!" Bobby said. 

Helen was already getting up to get to work, tucking a caramel striped dark strand of hair back into her immaculate bun. "Breakfast's on the stove."