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

by Rick Riordan

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.”

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

“You’re cute when you’re worried,” she muttered. “Your eyebrows get all scrunched together.”

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.”

“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.