ANNABETH

"Ughhh…"

I groan softly under the soft quilt of my bed. I throw it off, shaking my head and stretching slightly. There's an empty feeling in my stomach, and it's gnawing at me. Terribly. I groan slightly again and tiptoe out, so as not to wake up the entire Athena cabin.

The hunger is making me nauseous. I stumble slightly on the cold, dewy grass, heading to the dining tables. Time for a midnight feast.

I sit. "Hot cocoa and crackers."

Nothing happens. No golden plate or goblet appears. Does the magic not work at midnight? I sigh, letting my head slump against the cold table. Damn. We didn't cook in the kitchens, or have any supplies to make food, or whatever. The kitchen was just there to wash the dishes, or supply lava to wash the dishes. The gnawing feeling increases.

"Think, Annabeth," I mutter to myself. "You're a child of Athena. Work out a strategy to get food."

But I can't think when I'm hungry like this. I can barely concentrate.

"Up after curfew, Wise Girl?"

A boy in jeans and an orange CAMP HALF-BLOOD T-shirt strolls over, grinning. He brushes a lock of messy black hair out of his sea-green eyes. "Why are you sleeping on the table?"

"Go away, Seaweed Brain."

"Aw,no. Grumpy?" Percy plops down next to me.

"No, just hungry!"

"The great Wise Girl, hungry. No problem, Annabeth."

He looks at the table confidently and says, "Blue pie."

Nothing happens. He stares at the table. "BLUE PIE."

"I don't think the table works after curfew, or midnight."

Percy glares at the table, running a hand through his messy black hair. Then he grins at me. "Then I guess we just have to break the rules." He says, grabbing my hand.

"What-?" My hand tingles.

"Think the harpies will notice us this fast, Wise Girl?"

"No!" I pull my hand back and immediately miss the warmth. "We can't, Percy. I'd rather be hungry."

"Aw, come on, Annabeth. It'll be fun and you'll get your burger."

"No-"

"And ice cream. Triple scoop."

I glare at him, knowing he's won. "Fine. I'll go change out of my pajamas first."

I slip into the cabin, change into my orange Camp Half Blood T-shirt and jeans. I comb my curly blonde hair and tie it into a decent ponytail and tiptoe out.

Percy is waiting on a bench, grinning slightly when he sees me. "You took long enough. Let's go."

We climb up the hill where the entrance to camp is. I try to calculate the time we sprint , comparing it to the short time harpies will sniff us out. We've got quite a distance. I narrow the meters down to the average, then…

"Done thinking? What are our chances?"

"I'm not a human calculator, Kelp Head." I give him a smoldering gaze but rattle off numbers anyway. He stares at me, his sea green eyes looking stupid for a second. "English?"

"We've got a good chance. The distance of a harpy's sense of smell-"

"Aw, Annabeth, let's just go."

I jostle him playfully as we sneak across.

Then a screech as we're halfway there. A black shadow flits towards us, ahead of…

Harpies.

"Oh,Zeus." I exclaim. "We should have gone by my designated calculation. I thought…"

"It's okay, Owl-Head," Percy says, unfazed, uncapping his sword, Riptide. "Run."