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.

“What are they fighting about anyway?” I asked. Annabeth ignored me while she scribbled on her inspection scroll, giving both cabins a one out of five. 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. Finally she said, “That flying chariot.” “What?” “You asked what they were fighting about.” “Oh. Oh, right.”

“Percy,” she said, her voice tight, “Rachel is just a mortal.” “But what if her dream is true? Those other Titans— they said Olympus would be destroyed in a matter of days. They said they had plenty of other challenges. And what’s with that picture of Luke as a kid—” “We’ll just have to be ready.” “How?” I said. “Look at our camp. We can’t even stop fighting each other. And I’m supposed to get my stupid soul reaped.” She threw down her scroll. “I knew we shouldn’t have shown you the prophecy.” Her voice was angry and hurt. “All it did was scare you. You run away from things when you’re scared.” 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.”

“Last thing.” Hermes looked at me. “She said to tell Percy: ‘Remember the rivers.’ And, um, something about staying away from her daughter.” I’m not sure whose face was redder: Annabeth’s or mine.

Annabeth didn’t look convinced. “Just be careful. I don’t want anything to happen to you. I mean, because we need you for the battle.”

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.”

hehehehahahhwhwhe

Annabeth had intercepted the knife with her own body. But why? She didn’t know about my weak spot. No one did. I locked eyes with the enemy demigod. He wore an eye patch under his war helm: Ethan Nakamura, the son of Nemesis. Somehow he’d survived the explosion on the Princess Andromeda. I slammed him in the face with my sword hilt so hard I dented his helm. “Get back!” I slashed the air in a wide arc, driving the rest of the demigods away from Annabeth. “No one touches her!” “Interesting,” Kronos said. He towered above me on his skeletal horse,

Silena threw her arms around me. Then she pushed back awkwardly, glancing at Annabeth. “Um, sorry. Thank you, Percy! I won’t let you down!”

“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.”

“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?”

Annabeth was in no shape for jumping. She stumbled and yelled, “Percy!” I caught her hand as the pavement fell, crumbling into dust. For a second I thought she was going to pull us both over. Her feet dangled in the open air. Her hand started to slip until I was holding her only by her fingers. Then Grover and Thalia grabbed my legs, and I found extra strength. Annabeth was not going to fall. I pulled her up and we lay trembling on the pavement. I didn’t realize we had our arms around each other until she suddenly tensed. “Um, thanks,” she muttered.

My only thought was to keep him away from Annabeth.

“Did you…” Luke coughed and his lips glistened red. “Did you love me?” Annabeth wiped her tears away. “There was a time I thought…well, I thought…” 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. “You were like a brother to me, Luke,” she said softly. “But I didn’t love you.” He nodded, as if he’d expected it. He winced in pain.

“No?” Zeus said. “You are…turning down our generous gift?” There was a dangerous edge to his voice, like a thunderstorm about to erupt. “I’m honored and everything,” I said. “Don’t get me wrong. It’s just…I’ve got a lot of life left to live. I’d hate to peak in my sophomore year.” The gods were glaring at me, but Annabeth had her hands over her mouth. Her eyes were shining. And that kind of made up for it.

When she spoke, her voice sounded tripled—like three Rachels were talking at once: “Seven half-bloods shall answer the call. To storm or fire, the world must fall. An oath to keep with a final breath, And foes bear arms to the Doors of Death.”

HoO tease

“You saved the world,” she said. “We saved the world.” “And Rachel is the new Oracle, which means she won’t be dating anybody.” “You don’t sound disappointed,” I noticed. Annabeth shrugged. “Oh, I don’t care.” “Uh-huh.” She raised an eyebrow. “You got something to say to me, Seaweed Brain?” “You’d probably kick my butt.” “You know I’d kick your butt.”

“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!”

With a huge cheer, they carried us down the hill, but they kept us close enough to hold hands. Annabeth was laughing, and I couldn’t help laughing too, even though my face was completely red. We held hands right up to the moment they dumped us in the water. Afterward, I had the last laugh. I made an air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Our friends kept waiting for us to come up, but hey—when you’re the son of Poseidon, you don’t have to hurry. And it was pretty much the best underwater kiss of all time.

“Good-bye,” Rachel said to us as she shouldered her bag. She looked pretty nervous, but she was keeping a promise to her father and attending Clarion Academy in New Hampshire. It would be next summer before we got our Oracle back. “You’ll do great.” Annabeth hugged her. Funny, she seemed to get along fine with Rachel these days.

Annabeth, thank goodness, would be staying in New York. She’d gotten permission from her parents to attend a boarding school in the city so she could be close to Olympus and oversee the rebuilding efforts. “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.