Frantic Romantic

Chapter 1:

Late Night Ride

Annabeth was sitting in her office, working on her blueprints for Olympus at her desk. She didn't notice that someone had just entered her office.

Percy snuck in the office, trying not to make a sound. When he got behind Annabeth, he put one hand over both of her eyes.

Annabeth was startled. She wasn't expecting anyone that evening.

She felt the hand that was over her eyes. It was a warm, familiar hand that she had held more than once.

"Percy?" she said.

He removed his hand from her eyes and said, "Hey beautiful."

He handed her the flowers in his other hand. They were roses, but something about them wasn't like your ordinary roses. They were silver and glowing.

Annabeth gasped. "Oh, Percy, they're beautiful," she said, scooping them up with her hands. "Where did you get them?"

"Well, remember my mom started planting that garden?"

She nodded.

"She was experimenting with breeding flowers. These are moon-lace and rose. I call it Moon Rose."

Annabeth laughed and said, "Well they're beautiful."

Percy smiled. "Not as beautiful as you."

She set the flowers in a vase full of water. Then turned back to Percy and gave him a hug.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him.

Percy looked insulted. "Your boyfriend can't even come to see you?"

Annabeth shook her head. "Yes, but what are you doing here? On Olympus, in my office, at midnight."

"I thought I'd see how your plans for this place are going," he said, reaching over to one of her blueprints.

"No, no, no," she said, taking the blueprints away. "This is all top-secret. I'm sorry Percy, but I can't show you."

"Oh, I see," Percy said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, "You can't show me, your boyfriend?"

Annabeth shook her head.

"Your Seaweed Brain. You can't trust him anymore?"

Annabeth opened her mouth to protest, but he only smiled and put his arm around her waist.

"C'mon," he said, steering her out of the office, "our ride is waiting."

"What ride?" Annabeth asked, standing rooted to where she was. "Percy, I have to work. These blueprints need to be ready in a few more days, and I can't just—"

She was cut off by Percy, who turned to her and said, "Come on," in a pleading voice. "We've only got three weeks until we start school, and I want to spend some time with you. Please," he said, grabbing her hands to hold them. "You have a lot of time to finish those."

"I don't know Percy," she said, turning away from him but not letting go of his hands, "I've still got a lot to finish. I mean, there's—"

She was cut off yet again, but this time not by words, but by the fact that Percy had let go of her hands, swooped down and picked her up in his arms.

Annabeth gave a yell, but a surprised one.

"Percy!" she said, half yelling, half laughing. "Put me down!"

But he just laughed and said, "I don't think so, Wise Girl!"

Annabeth started laughing as Percy walked out of the office with her in his arms. Every few steps, he'd spin in a circle and she'd just laugh harder.

They walked and spun on until they got to a grassy area outside with a bench.

He finally set her down on the bench, though reluctantly. But he didn't sit down next to her; he got down on one knee and fished around in his pocket. Then he pulled out a little box, just big enough for a ring.

He cleared his throat and said, "Annabeth Chase?"

Annabeth's eyes were wide. She nodded slowly and gave a feeble "Uh-huh."

"Will you," he opened the box, but what was in it wasn't a ring, it was a small silver whistle, "go for a ride with me?"

She released a sigh and punched him in the shoulder. "Don't scare me like that Seaweed Brain." But she just laughed and said, "Yes, I'd love to go for a ride with you."

Percy smiled and got up.

"What's the whistle for, anyway?" Annabeth asked.

He turned to look at her. "Would you like to blow it?"

Annabeth looked at the whistle with caution. "First I want to know what it's for."

Percy laughed. "Don't worry, it's nothing bad." He stretched out his hand that had the box and the whistle in it. "It's just going to call Blackjack."

She took the box from him carefully and pulled the whistle out. It had a carving in it of a pegasus. Below it was the word 'Blackjack' engraved in Ancient Greek. Annabeth slowly put the whistle up to her lips and blew on it.

They had to wait only about thirty seconds for Blackjack to appear.

He landed on the grass two feet away from them.

Hey boss.

Percy turned to Annabeth and grinned. He held out his hand for her to take. "Shall we?"

She looked at him, a little doubtful. "Are you sure we should be going?"

Percy kept his hand extended and said, "You trust me, don't you?"

Annabeth smiled and took his hand. "I trust you, Percy."

They climbed on Blackjack. Annabeth held on to Percy's waist.

Percy thought he heard snickering. It was coming from directly in front of him.

"Blackjack," he said with a tone of warning in his voice, "is something wrong?"

No, boss. N-Nothing's wrong.

Percy could tell he was choking back laughter. "If nothing's really wrong, then let's go."

Blackjack took off. Percy could feel Annabeth tense behind him.

"What is it?" he asked her.

"Nothing, it's just that… it's a long way down Percy."

"Don't worry," he said, "you're with me, and I'd never do anything that would hurt you."

Annabeth's grip tightened around his waist. He could hear Blackjack's snickers in the front.

"Blackjack," he said, exasperated, "what is it?"

Nothing boss. Now he wasn't even trying to hide his laughter. Gee, that Athena girl sure looks pretty, don't you think?

Percy groaned. "Not you too." He leaned in and whispered in Blackjack's ear, "And her name is Annabeth."

They kept soaring through the New York air, the city alive with light. He could hear Annabeth catch her breath as she saw all the radiant buildings full of light.

After a while, they finally landed in Central Park. Percy got off Blackjack first and then helped Annabeth down.

"OK Blackjack," he said, "you can go now."

Blackjack was still snickering. I don't know, boss. I thought I'd stick around for a while and protect you from any monsters, maybe call one of my lady pegasus friends—

"Blackjack." Percy's voice was now full of warning.

Fine, fine, I'm going. Geez. And with that, he flew off into the night, leaving Percy and Annabeth alone.

Annabeth wasn't sure what to do. All of her dates with Percy were planned, and usually, they just went to dinner or a movie. He never really was the type to do mysterious, unexpected things.

"So," she said, unsure of what to do. She didn't have to go on wondering what to do much longer, because Percy had just laced his arm through hers.

"Let's go," he said, guiding them ahead.

They stopped in front of a tree with a bench underneath it. Percy led Annabeth to the bench. They both sat down, holding hands.

"This is nice," she said, putting her head on his shoulder, growing relaxed, letting her worries slip away from her.

"Yeah," he said, stroking her hair with his free hand. It was nice here, he thought. With her, the war being over, at peace.

They sat there in silence for a while, enjoying the quiet and stillness around them.

"Percy?" Annabeth said, breaking the silence.

"Yeah."

She looked up into his eyes, taking her head off his shoulder. "What if the war's not really over?"

Percy looked at her with a questioning look. "What do you mean?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "What if this is only the beginning? What if, the Titans come back?"

Percy didn't know how to answer that. The fight was never really over if you're a half-blood. But he just answered, "Listen, could we not talk about this right now? Let's just focus on the fact that we're both here and alive, together."

She smiled. "You're right," she said, putting her hands around his neck. "Starting with this."

She leaned in, her eyes closed, and so did Percy. It seemed so perfect. He was going to kiss her.

He was going to, until there was a flash of sliver light that made them break apart.

It would've been nice if he could've said it was only someone's headlights.

It would've been nice if it didn't happen to begin with.

But of course, it did. And the worst part of it all was that Percy recognized those lights.

It was the light of Artemis's chariot.