Hera's son

chapter 10

"You need a haircut" Annabeth stated.

After she dragged him round half the camp with nothing but boring facts and short answers, It had been very awkward as Percy stayed quite for most of the tour.

This just so happened to be the first words that Annabeth had actually directed at him. He was quite surprised and stared wide eyed at the blond, stuttering to come up with a reply.

Her eyes where sharp with annoyance- or was it concentration? She placed her hands on her hips and tapped her foot as he rummaged his brain. Seeing as he was unable to speak, she dropped her hands to her side and walked away.

He watched as she walked towards the cabins- the only place left to look at- before running after her.

Once he caught up to her, he sprouted the first words he could muster.

"Why don't we start again?"

Now, that caught her off guard. She stopped walking and turned her whole attention back to the very naive and short demi-god. Percy raised his hand, ready for her to shake in agreement.

"I'm Percy, not Perseus, just Percy" he spoke, sounded a lot more confident.

She stared at him some more, before putting her hand in his and shaking it.

"Annabeth, not Annabel, not Anny, just Annabeth"

Percy's face erupted with a huge grin, causing Annabeth to smile slightly.

"So you going to show me the cabins?" Percy questioned

"I think I will" she said, followed by a soft chuckle.

It had been a long time since she had last smiled, it felt good. Being a demi god was started to affect her more than just her hate for better parents. Almost a year ago, she had lost one of her closest friends. A son of Hermes called Luke. He was like an older brother too her, but her brother turned out to be a traitor to the gods, working for Kronos. She found it hard to understand his reasons, she had tried to iris message him a few times to understand why he would leave her, but she could never find him. Chiron thought it best she stay in camp and help tend to the younger campers, thinking this would distract her. It did, for a little while. But as she got older, more things seemed to dun on her. Like the fact that these little campers had no idea how precious their lives where.

She suddenly couldn't bear attachment to anyone, knowing they could die so easily. Like Thalia.

So she had buried herself away with her books and shut off all communication to anyone she did not need to talk too. This of course made her the last person to find out gossip or prank warnings. She didn't mind that, she was never one for gossip.

But just when she thought she should start being more social and try to be there for others more, she suddenly felt even worse as the tape that was sticking her together slowly started to peel away once again.

She had volunteered for the Athena cabin night patrol as a first marker for being social. She would be able to catch up with Malcom whist looking out for any new demi-gods making their way to camp. She hadn't spoken to Malcom in some time and she was actually looking forward to it, so after dinner she got changed and put on some light armour- just in case- and packed a rucksack.

She had followed the others up the hill before splitting up into pairs, sending each pair to a different area to scout. She and Malcom had gone deep into the forest boundary, hanging their flasks of hot chocolate on a tree branch. It had been nice. Listening to the soft breeze and the breathing of a fellow camper, but it was all ruined so soon.

Not long into the night, when the stars where shining brightest and the owls could be herd in the trees, the silence was ruined by a heavy breathing Athena camper running towards them. Both sprang to their feet, waiting for the younger to catch their breath.

"What's wrong?" Malcom asked, taking a water bottle out of his rucksack and passing it to the camper.

Annabeth waited patiently for an answer.

When the young Athena camper had finally caught their breath, they spoke exactly what Annabeth had never imagined.

"Thalia's tree, it's been poisoned!"

Annabeth suddenly couldn't hear anything; it was like her body had stopped working as she took in the information. She just couldn't proses the fact that another part of her life was being destroyed and she had no control.

It reminded her how precious life was, how easy is was to lose.

She ran through the forest, taking no notice of her siblings shouting for her to stop . she bolted though the trees, running as fast as her legs could carry her before leaping over a trunk and skidding to a stop.

Her eyes started to swell. Her feet wobbled lightly. The back of her head suddenly became too heavy to hold.

Thalia's bark skinned body was lying in the bundle of roots, decaying as the lime green substance lightly boiled between the grooves. Pine leaves collected at her feet, each one looking browner then the others.

She dropped to her knees and buried her head in her hands, letting the tears fall. She found herself reliving her best friend's death all over again in her mind. It was awful.

It was like everything was crumbling around her and all she could do was watch helplessly.

But there he was, right in front of her; another naive, young and dreamful camper thinking they were something special because they were half god.

However, this one seemed to be different. He wasn't cocky or aggravating, he was sincere and interesting.

Maybe they could be friends, best friends.

She suddenly realised that they were still staring into each other's eyes, with the roof of the cabins on the horizon.

His stupid grin was still plastering his face, as she realised they were still holding hands. She quickly pulled away and gave him one more look over.

"It's nice" she said, looking at his wild hair that seemed to be black but brown when the sun caught it.

Percy's face twisted into one of confusion, until he realised her train of thought and smiled once again.

She found herself smiling as well as they turned to walk towards their destination, yes she thought. She wouldn't loose this friend, that she was sure.