Hey guys,

This is for a writing contest I'm doing. The topic that was assigned was Annabeth meeting Carter Kane. I was assigned Annabeth's POV.

Please, no haters, and suggestions are welcome. It took me a while to come up with this idea.

Thanks for your support guys!

Sorry I haven't been on. Spring Break has been crazy.

-----

ANNABETH POV

-----

"Ugh! Where is it?!"

I growled and tossed another one behind me. It skittered across the floor and hit the leg of a desk Malcolm was studying behind. He blinked, glanced down at it, then looked at me.

"Uh, Annabeth," he worriedly called, "why are you throwing books?"

A Tale of Two Cities hit the wall with a THUMP. Shakespeare's Macbeth quickly followed suit, along with Little Women.

"I can't find it!" I shouted to him. I threw another book over my shoulder, having it join the rest of its buddies. I pulled another off, glanced at it, then exclaimed: "Why in Hades do we have 50 Shades of Grey?!"

I chucked it at the trash can. I grabbed another book-- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince-- and scoffed.

"Not even a real half-blood." It joined Macbeth in the pile of classics.

Malcolm slowly made his way around the desk, ducking a few books, then stood next to one of the many emptied bookshelves. When the bookshelf I was working was cleared off and I slumped to the floor hopelessly. Malcolm sighed.

"Are you looking for House of-"

"Don't. Say. A word," I commanded. He rolled his eyes.

"Annabeth, if you would just tell me what you're looking for, I could help." I leaned forward and banged my head on one of the shelves.

"I swear we had the book... I swear we did! It was on that shelf!" I pointed to one of the emptied boards. I narrowed my eyes as an idea popped into my head. "If the Stolls took the book, I'm going to kill them..." Malcolm sighed and leaned against the bookshelf.

"What book are you looking for? There are plenty in here to choose from."

"No, it has to be a certain one," I insisted. "I was in the Big House when I overheard Chiron talking to someone about...other gods. We had a book that had every god every human civilization believed in. I was going to flip through it and-"

"Annabeth, you don't have to worry about it. You're being snoopy again. You know what happened the last time you did that," Malcolm reminded me. I scowled.

Of course I remembered. It was what made me meet Percy in the first place.

"Look Malcolm," I said. "I just want to find this book, okay? I don't want to cause trouble."

"You usually end up making trouble anyway," he mentioned. I rolled my eyes.

"Trust me, I'm nothing compared to Percy when it comes to trouble." Malcolm smirked.

"Come on you," he said, nudging me with his foot, "why don't you go pull out a blueprint for-"

Before he could finish, a black figure darted out from under a bunk. I jumped to my feet, startled by the sudden moment. It was furry, about the size of a large dog, wore some sort of purple jersey and had...a colorful bum?

"Stop that thing!" I shouted. I darted across the room and Malcolm, still in utter shock, straightened.

"What the Hades?!" He cursed.

I ran out the door, chasing down the figure. It kept flashing me its rainbow bottom while it ran. In its hand, a book was clasped tightly.

"Hey!" I yelled, "stop! That's our property!" The thing turned its head and made an angry sound- like a mix between a barking dog and a dying bird. It picked up speed. I scowled and turned on my running engine.

The creature ran toward Half-Blood Hill. It took all my energy just to keep up with it. And it's colorful patoot was not helping my frustration. Campers jumped out of the way as the creature dashed through the courtyard that was in the center of the cabins.

"Out of the way!" I shouted. A poor apollo kid didn't get out of the way in time. The figure jumped over him bouncing off his head. The camper yelped and hit the ground.

"Sorry!" I apologized for the creature. We started running up the hill.

It was now or never.

The thing was only a few feet away from me when I pounced. Wrapping my arms around its furry chest, my weight quickly caught up and pushed it to the ground.

"OOOAAARCH!" It exclaimed as the book skittered across the boundary line. It turned its head at me to bark again and I realized I had just tackled a baboon. What was a baboon doing in camp?

"Khufu," a strong voice said. I tried to glance up at who had spoken, but the baboon needed all my attention to keep it down. I figured the voice was Percy or Jason making his way across the boarder. But what was a 'hoo-foo'?

The baboon finally pulled out of my grasp and ran toward the figure. I cursed and finally got my first look at the person.

It wasn't Percy or Jason at all. It was a kid, maybe 15 years old, with dark skin, a head of neatly trimmed curly hair, and dressed in some sort of karate pajama uniform. Slung over his shoulder was a bag and in his hand, he held a really deformed sword. He gave me a weird look like: "why did you hurt my baboon?" Then, he turned to the baboon.

"Khufu, did you find the book?"

I blinked, confused to see a kid in pajamas talking to a baboon while carrying a really broken sword.

"OOOF!" The baboon- I assumed must have been called Khufu- barked. It pointed at the ground a couple feet away. It was the book. The boy looked at it and started to walk toward it. I pulled myself up quickly and ran toward the book. I snatched it up before the boy could even bend down.

"This is our property," I snapped, "what do you need? Are you a half- blood?" The boy stood up straighter.

"My name is Carter. I really need this book; it's going to save my family." I furrowed my eyebrows.

"What's wrong with your family?" I asked skeptically. Carter shifted on his feet.

"It's hard to explain... You wouldn't understand." He held out his hand, "may I have it now?"

Thoughts we're swirling around in my head like a thunderstorm. Who was his family? What was wrong with them? What did this book have to do with that problem anyway? I glanced at his hand. It was calaused and worn down a little, like he worked with big, hard- maybe rock- things. It seemed desperate to have this book.

"What are you going to do with it?" I finally asked. Carter let his hand drop as he looked down at the grass.

"Things have gone very wrong, where I'm from. My family has turned on one another, and I don't know what to do. I was told that that book could change everything. Please..." His eyes finally looked up, pleading with mine, "may I please have the book?"

I pinched my lips together, stared at the book in my hand, then reached in my pocket. I pulled out a pen and opened the cover of the book. On the inside page- in the top corner- I wrote:

Annabeth Chase

Cabin 6

Delphi Strawberries/

Camp Half-Blood

I closed the cover, stared at the book for an even longer moment, then handed it to Carter.

"I expect to have this back. I need it as well. There are rumors of trouble around here... So please hurry. And don't send your baboon into my cabin again!" I pointed angrily at the creature. It barked at me and Carter scolded it.

"Khufu, she's a friend. Behave yourself or you don't get your Cheerios." Khufu backed off a little bit, fiddling with his purple shirt. I realized now that it was a basketball jersey for the Lakers.

An awkward silence fell between Carter and I. There wasn't really much to say, other than maybe a thank you, but that was it.

"You should probably get back to your...uh...strawberries?" He said the statement like a question, looking over my shoulder. I turned to gaze down at Camp Half-Blood. Carter couldn't see the camp, probably because they were outside the borders and he was mortal.

"Yeah, our camp activities director decided they would be a good idea." I bit my lip. "Well, you should probably be headed home. I hope your-" I stopped myself. "Wait. What do you mean family?"

Carter tensed. I could see his hands clench around his sword and the book tighter.

"It's a long story," he said simply. I knew what that was like. It's not like I could describe the first and second Earth-shaking wars I'd participated in-- along with all the details that went with it-- in a single story. There was just too much.

"I bet..." I muttered. I didn't want to say more, but my curiosity tingled.

"Annabeth!" Someone called from down the hill, "it's time for cabin inspection!" I immediately knew it was Percy. I glanced down the hill then back at Carter.

"I have to go. Be careful with the book, and good luck." Carter nodded with a smile and extended a hand to shake.

"Thank you, Annabeth." I smiled in return and shook his hand.

"You're welcome." We locked eyes, and seemed to understand each other's thoughts. He had people to save and I had to satisfy my own curiosity.

We let go and I waved goodbye. He waved in return, Khufu barking at me in farewell. I turned and ran down the hill, blonde hair blowing behind me.

I couldn't wait to tell Percy.