The Last Olympian (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, #5)

by Rick Riordan

Annabeth ran in right behind him, and I’ll admit my heart did a little relay race in my chest when I saw her. It’s not that she tried to look good. We’d been doing so many combat missions lately, she hardly brushed her curly blond hair anymore, and she didn’t care what clothes she was wearing—usually the same old orange camp T-shirt and jeans, and once in a while her bronze armor. Her eyes were stormy gray. Most of the time we couldn’t get through a conversation without trying to strangle each other. Still, just seeing her made me feel fuzzy in the head. Last summer, before Luke had turned into Kronos and everything went sour, there had been a few times when I thought maybe…well, we might get past the strangle-each-other phase.

Annabeth wiped a tear from her cheek. “I’m glad you’re not dead, Seaweed Brain.” “Thanks,” I said. “Me too.”

We locked eyes. I thought of a different time last summer, under Mount St. Helens, when Annabeth thought I was going to die, and she kissed me.

Annabeth blushed. It dawned on me that she knew I’d been hanging out with Rachel, and I felt guilty. Then I felt angry that I felt guilty. I was allowed to have friends outside camp, right? It wasn’t like…

I found myself staring at her, which was stupid since I’d seen her a billion times. She and I were about the same height this summer, which was a relief. Still, she seemed so much more mature. It was kind of intimidating. I mean, sure, she’d always been cute, but she was starting to be seriously beautiful.

I shuffled uneasily and pretended to go through some more reports. Technically, even on inspection, it was against camp rules for two campers to be…like, alone in a cabin. That rule had come up a lot when Silena and Beckendorf started dating. And I know some of you might be thinking, Aren’t all demigods related on the godly side, and doesn’t that make dating gross? But the thing is, the godly side of your family doesn’t count, genetically speaking, since gods don’t have DNA. A demigod would never think about dating someone who had the same godly parent. Like two kids from Athena cabin? No way. But a daughter of Aphrodite and a son of Hephaestus? They’re not related. So it’s no problem.

“You know…” She brushed her hair behind her ear, like she does when she’s nervous. “This whole thing with Beckendorf and Silena. It kind of makes you think. About…what’s important. About losing people who are important.” I nodded. My brain started seizing on little random details, like the fact that she was still wearing those silver owl earrings from her dad, who was this brainiac military history professor in San Francisco. “Um, yeah,” I stammered. “Like…is everything cool with your family?” Okay, really stupid question, but hey, I was nervous. Annabeth looked disappointed, but she nodded.

“My dad wanted to take me to Greece this summer,” she said wistfully. “I’ve always wanted to see—” “The Parthenon,” I remembered. She managed a smile. “Yeah.” “That’s okay. There’ll be other summers, right?”

“Annabeth.” I stopped her by the tetherball court. I knew I was asking for trouble, but I didn’t know who else to trust. Plus, I’d always depended on Annabeth for advice. “Listen, I had this dream about, um, Rachel…” I told her the whole thing, even the weird picture of Luke as a child. For a while she didn’t say anything. Then she rolled up her inspection scroll so tight she ripped it. “What do you want me to say?” “I’m not sure. You’re the best strategist I know. If you were Kronos planning this war, what would you do next?” “I’d use Typhon as a distraction. Then I’d hit Olympus directly, while the gods were in the West.”

I stared at her, completely stunned. “Me? Run away?” She got right in my face. “Yes, you. You’re a coward, Percy Jackson!” We were nose to nose. Her eyes were red, and I suddenly realized that when she called me a coward, maybe she wasn’t talking about the prophecy. “If you don’t like our chances,” she said, “maybe you should go on that vacation with Rachel.” “Annabeth—” “If you don’t like our company.” “That’s not fair!”

“It would mean a lot. For old times’ sake?” He whimpered. “As I recall, in the old times we almost died a lot. But okay, here goes nothing.”

“Hold on, Seaweed Brain.” It was Annabeth’s voice, much clearer now. “You’re not getting away from me that easily.” The cord strengthened. I could see Annabeth now—standing barefoot above me on the canoe lake pier. I’d fallen out of my canoe. That was it. She was reaching out her hand to haul me up, and she was trying not to laugh. She wore her orange camp T-shirt and jeans. Her hair was tucked up in her Yankees cap, which was strange because that should have made her invisible. “You are such an idiot sometimes.” She smiled. “Come on. Take my hand.” Memories came flooding back to me—sharper and more colorful. I stopped dissolving. My name was Percy Jackson. I reached up and took Annabeth’s hand. Suddenly I burst out of the river. I collapsed on the sand, and Nico scrambled back in surprise.

“What is it?” “What’s what?” I asked. “You’re looking at me funny.” I realized I was thinking about my strange vision of Annabeth pulling me out of the Styx River. “It’s, uh, nothing.” I turned to the rest of the group. “Thanks for coming, everybody. Chiron, after you.”

Before I could lose my courage, I said, “Don’t I get a kiss for luck? It’s kind of a tradition, right?” I figured she would punch me. Instead, she drew her knife and stared at the army marching toward us. “Come back alive, Seaweed Brain. Then we’ll see.” I figured it was the best offer I would get, so I stepped out from behind the school bus. I walked up the bridge in plain sight, straight toward the enemy.

“Get back!” I slashed the air in a wide arc, driving the rest of the demigods away from Annabeth. “No one touches her!”

“Percy?” Silena Beauregard sounded like she’d been crying. “Plaza Hotel. You’d better come quickly and bring a healer from Apollo’s cabin. It’s…it’s Annabeth.”

Once she was gone, I knelt next to Annabeth and felt her forehead. She was still burning up. “You’re cute when you’re worried,” she muttered. “Your eyebrows get all scrunched together.” “You are not going to die while I owe you a favor,” I said. “Why did you take that knife?” “You would’ve done the same for me.”

It was true. I guess we both knew it. Still, I felt like somebody was poking my heart with a cold metal rod. “How did you know?” “Know what?” I looked around to make sure we were alone. Then I leaned in close and whispered: “My Achilles spot. If you hadn’t taken that knife, I would’ve died.” She got a faraway look in her eyes. Her breath smelled of grapes, maybe from the nectar. “I don’t know, Percy. I just had this feeling you were in danger. Where…where is the spot?” I wasn’t supposed to tell anyone. But this was Annabeth. If I couldn’t trust her, I couldn’t trust anyone. “The small of my back.” She lifted her hand. “Where? Here?” She put her hand on my spine, and my skin tingled. I moved her fingers to the one spot that grounded me to my mortal life. A thousand volts of electricity seemed to arc through my body. “You saved me,” I said. “Thanks.” She removed her hand, but I kept holding it. “So you owe me,” she said weakly. “What else is new?”

“Well…sure good to be together again. Arguing. Almost dying. Abject terror. Oh, look. It’s our floor.”

She looked at me, like she was drinking in the fact that I was still here. And I realized I was doing the same thing. The world was collapsing, and the only thing that really mattered to me was that she was alive.

Nobody steals my pegasus. Not even Rachel.

“You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?” “You’d probably kick my butt.” “You know I’d kick your butt.” I brushed the cake off my hands. “When I was at the River Styx, turning invulnerable…Nico said I had to concentrate on one thing that kept me anchored to the world, that made me want to stay mortal.” Annabeth kept her eyes on the horizon. “Yeah?” “Then up on Olympus,” I said, “when they wanted to make me a god and stuff, I kept thinking—” “Oh, you so wanted to.” “Well, maybe a little. But I didn’t, because I thought— I didn’t want things to stay the same for eternity, because things could always get better. And I was thinking…” My throat felt really dry. “Anyone in particular?” Annabeth asked, her voice soft. I looked over and saw that she was trying not to smile. “You’re laughing at me,” I complained. “I am not!” “You are so not making this easy.” Then she laughed for real, and she put her hands around my neck. “I am never, ever going to make things easy for you, Seaweed Brain. Get used to it.” When she kissed me, I had the feeling my brain was melting right through my body. I could’ve stayed that way forever, except a voice behind us growled, “Well, it’s about time!” Suddenly the pavilion was filled with torchlight and campers. Clarisse led the way as the eavesdroppers charged and hoisted us both onto their shoulders. “Oh, come on!” I complained. “Is there no privacy?” “The lovebirds need to cool off!” Clarisse said with glee. “The canoe lake!” Connor Stoll jeer...

“And close to me?” I asked. “Well, someone’s got a big sense of his own importance.” But she laced her fingers through mine. I remembered what she’d told me in New York, about building something permanent, and I thought—just maybe—we were off to a good start.

“You’ve been thinking about Rachel’s prophecy?” I asked Annabeth. She frowned. “How did you know?” “Because I know you.”

I didn’t blame her, but it was hard to feel too upset on a nice day, with her next to me, knowing that I wasn’t really saying good-bye. We had lots of time. “Race you to the road?” I said. “You are so going to lose.” She took off down Half-Blood Hill and I sprinted after her. For once, I didn’t look back.