18 A clue

Annabeth

Annabeth wasn't sure when she figured it out. Well... it took a while to fully comprehend, it was a bit after Percy had asked her to leave him alone. So she did, she refused to be the clingy annoying girlfriend that would beg for a guy. No she had more dignity than that. She was broken inside but she decided to leave the camp for a little while so people stop thinking too much.

She put her walls back up and became regular old Annabeth. Well as Annabeth she could be without Percy, so not really Annabeth at all. She had grown so accustomed to always be by his side. When she first saw him she knew that should could never get tired of that reckless, annoying, handsome, jaw dropping, sarcastic smirk.

It wasn't until they got together that she realized how amazing his eyes were, how easily they could change, and everything about Percy seemed too good to be true. He was her savior, every time she was in trouble there was something inside her screaming he'll be there. She had grown so accustomed to taking care of herself it was refreshing… and a little bit annoying when he took care of her.

She could remember this one time when she was alone in her cabin (It was a free period at camp) she was looking through her computer for new design ideas for Olympus when her eyes refocused to something on the edge of her bed. Swaying back and forth on a tiny little web. A little something that had eight legs and tiny teeth connected to venom sacks in the body. A spider. Just swinging there, like it had all the time in the world. She could of sworn the spider smiled at her, but when she told it to others only the Athena kids seemed to believe her. Annabeth did the sensible thing, the thing that any child of Athena would do. She screamed.

Percy arrived in what seemed like a decade but in reality was only a few minutes busted through the doors brandishing a riptide he looked around and said (a bit lamely and out of breath)

"Where is it? Annabeth get behind me." His face was stern like he would battle the heavens for her sake. Annabeth still in shock wide eyed pointed to the spider at the edge of her bed. Paralyzed in fear she couldn't move as it inched towards her.

Percy saw it and rolled his eyes but smiled. He calmly walked up to the edge of her bed and scooted the spider into his palm before trapping it in his hands bringing it to the doorway, he gave her that same trouble maker grin that she loved and hated at the same time before tossing the creepy thing far away from the cabin door.

"All gone" He said dusting his hands off and giving me a big toothy grin.

She smiled weakly and pulled him into a hug over her computer, her trembling figure intertwined with his. That was the time when Chiron decided to look into the cabin and see what all the commotion was about. He started yelling at Percy for being in the cabin alone with her. She had blushed a scarlet red before explaining that there was a spider. Percy being no help in the situation just grinned happily like his ego had boosted up a few notches. He was kicked out of the cabin and Chiron made it very clear that he would not be allowed back in there unless there was a serious monster attacking annabeth.

In which case chiron explained that Annabeth would be fully capable of defending herself, resulting in the rule that Percy was not allowed in the Athena cabin at all.

Percy to which defiantly argued back and in not so many words told Chiron that he would always stand in front of me no matter how big or small the monster was. To say it wasn't entertaining would certainly an utter lie. She remembered that in that moment she pictured a future with Percy.

Everything about him was amazing and somehow she managed to throw that all away. In truth, she didn't really remember what was happening at the time, she felt as if she was watching herself be an idiot. The strange part was, she remembered that during the time she "cheated" She knew what was going on, but she had felt as if it wasn't her that was controlling her actions.

Annabeth sighed, it didn't matter know, what happened, happened... and there was no way to go back in time and smack past Annabeth in the face. She had her head in her hands and was picking at a hanging thread on her mattress when she felt it. Like something or someone in her mind was telling her to look under the bed. Urging her, she never looked under her bed, it was always clean… not like some campers who would just stuff belongings underneath. She crawled off her bed and pressed her body against the floor. She peered underneath the mattress and her heart stopped. Her blood ran cold as with trembling fingers she reached out and grabbed something soft.

Pink and silky soft, and just a bit wider than her forearm. Smelling deeply of perfume, sweet like a summer's day. Pink grapefruit, wild berries, red currant, jasmine petals, fresh freesia, creamy musk, sheer woods and white patchouli, deeply etched into the pale pink fabric. Then suddenly everything made sense, why she had kissed the stupid new kid, why she threw away her one true love. Someone had betrayed her, someone who wanted Percy and Herself to break up… or to get Percy away from camp. She had been away for camp for years, if she hadn't left she might have found this clue sooner.

She had to tell someone…. Chiron? Would he understand the urgency of the situation? She quickly got to her feet and rushed out of the Athena cabin racing to the big house. A silky pink scarf fluttering to the ground as she did so. The scarf of aphrodite.