The Unknown (A Percy Jackson Fanfiction)

4. We Talk to a Tree

Hi people! Chapter 4 is up!!

Enjoy!

Chapter Four

The waves crashed against the beach.

The sky was streaked with layers of pink and red as the orange sun sank in the horizon, giving the ocean a sparkling trail of reflected colour.

The sound of trainers crunching on the rocky part of the beach made me look up. "Hey." I said, holding out my hand. "Care to join me?"

Annabeth smiled and sat down next to me, entwining our hands. "You worried me. Why didn't you come to dinner?"

"I was thinking."

My girlfriend frowned at me and pretended to check my temperature. "Are you feeling okay?"

I stuck my tongue out at her. "I do occasionally think, you know."

"I guess you learn something new every day." She squeezed my hand and then her expression turned more serious. "What were you thinking about?"

"How much I'm going to miss this place when we go to college in New Rome." I admitted. "And I'm going to miss my mum too. It was okay to come here mostly in the summer because it's relatively close, but now I'm going to be in California..."

"It's going to be much more difficult to stay in touch." Annabeth finished. She rubbed the back of my hand with her thumb reassuringly. "It's going to be very different, but I'm sure Sally and Paul will survive without you. We will visit them whenever we can."

"I'm still going to miss everyone here. Especially Grover. It feels like we've just got back from the quest and now we're going to leave again."

Annabeth's eyes suddenly brightened. "Actually I've got some good news about that." She smiled. "Grover's coming with us to talk to the nymphs at Camp Jupiter. He won't be staying there for long because he doesn't want to be away from Juniper."

"That's great." I said. "Do you know what Jason and Piper are doing?"

"They're staying here for another year to teach the new campers and-"

A huge crack broke through Annabeth's sentence like a thunderclap. Before I was even aware of what I was doing, I was standing with Riptide out, the bronze blade gleaming in the light of the setting sun.

Annabeth was standing too with her Drakon bone knife clenched firmly in her grip. "What in Hades' was that?" She demanded.

Out the corner of my eyes I saw the shapes of campers leaving their cabins, shouting orders.

I moved my gaze towards the Big House and a tingling sensation crawled up my spine just as all of its windows shattered at once.

"What the-"

"Come on!" Annabeth grabbed my hand and we ran towards the house.

We skidded to a stop in front of it, our shoes crunching on the shards of glass that littered the grass around it. Chiron galloped up next to us, his arrow notched firmly in his bow.

"Chiron, what's happening?" I asked.

He shook his head, looking slightly bewildered. His tail swished nervously. "Lacy!" He called to an Aphrodite girl who stared at the Big House with wide eyes as another huge crack echoed from it. "Alert the other campers! Go!"

The girl scurried off towards the cabins just as another sickening crack made the Big House tremble. Suddenly the walls began to crumble, plaster, dust and bricks spilling out all over the grass. The wooden porch caved in, collapsing in on itself.