Back in Time

11 - The Ring

Hi! I'm back! I thought I was done with this book, but then I got a few comments asking about the ring mentioned in chapter 8, so here it is! I hope you like it!

Annabeth sighs as she sits down at her desk. She is trying to work on the blueprints for a new training area in camp. The cabin door is thrown open. She looks up to see Lily standing in the doorway.

"Annabeth!" Lily yells. "You have to come quick! It's Percy!"

Annabeth drops her pencil and stands up, "what? Where is he?"

"The beach," Lily tells her. "Follow me."

Annabeth follows her younger sister to the beach. "He's over there," Lily says pointing to some rocks.

Annabeth hurries behind the rock to find Percy sitting on a picnic blanket next to a basket. "What's going on? Are you okay?"

Percy nods and walks over to her, "I'm fine. Why?"

"Lily made it sound like you were hurt."

"Oh," Percy says. "I'm fine. Come sit down." He leads her to the blanket and they sit down. "I just wanted to make you a little thank you lunch for taking care of me last week when I was cursed."

"Of course," Annabeth says. "I'll always take care of you."

Percy smiles and hands her a plate from the basket. They eat, talk, laugh, and make fun of each other for a little while until Percy takes a deep breath, "I didn't just bring you here to thank you. I also wanted to ask you about something."

"Yeah?" Annabeth asks. "And what's that?"

Percy takes another deep breath as he pulls a small box out of his pocket. Annabeth gasps. "Don't worry," Percy says, quickly. "I'm not proposing, at least not really." He opens the box to reveal the small pearl ring from his nightstand. "It's more of a promise ring, just to say that someday, when we are both ready, we will get married, if you want to of course."

Annabeth looks up at him, "it's beautiful! Thank you! I love it! I love you!"

"I love you too!" Percy kisses her and slips the ring on her finger, her right ring finger.

Annabeth laughs, "you do know we've been engaged since we were twelve right?"

"What?" Percy asks, shocked.

"On our first quest, you threw an apple at me, it was the first night of the quest. In ancient Greek, that's how men proposed. So, we've basically been engaged since we meet."

"And you never told me?"

"I didn't want to freak you out!"

"What if we actually ended up hating each other then would you have told me?"

"Yes, if you were going to marry someone else I would have told you, but I always felt like we were going to end up together."

Percy laughs, "I always felt like we were going to end up together, too."

"See?" Annabeth says. "There's nothing to worry about. Now, let's go show the others."

They get up and walk to camp, they find Jason, Leo, Piper, Frank, and Hazel sitting in front of Cabin 1. "Hey!" Annabeth calls.

"Hi!" Piper yells back. "We were just talking about going to train, want to come with us?"

"Sure," Percy says. "But before we do, we have something to tell you guys." Annabeth holds up her hand.

"Oh, my Gods!" Piper yells. "You got engaged!"

"Not exactly," Percy says. "It's a promise ring."

"Congratulations!" Hazel says.