Hello collective peoples of planet Earth! Mark of Athena is coming out in a whopping two days and how do I celebrate? With a countdown two shot, of course! There will be a new chapter on October 2nd, when the book comes out for real. Anyone else excited?

They arrived on a warm summer day, a nearly imperceptible breeze ruffling the hair of the armed Roman soldiers near the Little Tiber, and a considerably larger one whooshing through the occupants of Argo II.

"Hoist the mainsail!" Leo Valdez hollered as he swung around the base of the main mast, one arm keeping contact with the smooth metal. "Port! Starboard! Cut the jib!" His grin was unparalleled among the makeshift crew, who all happened to be staring at their captain/supreme overlord with a form of slack-jawed incredulosity.

"Cut the jib? We don't even have a jib!" Piper called back to him from her post on the starboard promenade.

"Are you sure?" Leo waggled his eyebrows and jumped down from the mast, jogging the last few yards to Piper.

"Whatever," she drew out the word as she rolled her eyes. "C'mon sailor boy," Piper waved her hand to beckon him. "Jason called a meeting."

"Oh, so Jason calls meetings now?" Leo followed, his shoes squeaking against the deck's flooring material.

"Yep," Piper said, pulling open the door to the below decks. She felt indifferent on the subject. While Jason wasn't the leader at Camp Half-Blood, he was the leader at the Roman one and even if it did feel uncomfortable for him to act all leadershippy in front of Annabeth, Grover, and the other senior campers, she wouldn't contest it. I mean, they didjust save a whole bunch of people from death and destruction and whatnot.

They entered the room, a near replica of the old meeting room in the Big House, only minus the ping-pong table. Instead it had a single bulb casting warm light and dark shadows on the cabin heads that were present and currently sitting on stools in a haphazard circle, leaning against the celestial bronze-plated planks.

"Leo," Jason lifted his head from his palms. "Now we can start." He nodded in the direction of the Stoll brothers. "Travis, you told me to call a meeting, what's the matter?"

The slightly taller twin stood from his chair and stepped closer to the light so his features were cast in a kind of maniacal contrast that he no doubt enjoyed. "We need to decide on how we're going to enter." His face was set, determined, like making an impression was the most important thing in the world.

"Like normal people?" Thalia ventured and glanced at her other hunters and Annabeth, who shrugged in return.

"Does it really matter?" Annabeth added.

Conner scoffed. "Uh, yeah. Those Romans are all traditionalist and crap. If we rush out en masse, they're never going to take us seriously!"

Jason nodded. "He's right. Decorum is everything in Camp Jupiter. What do you have in mind?" He squinted at the twins.

Conner and Travis exchanged glances. "We need bongo drums, the cabin flags, a satyr with excellent breath control, heavy Egyptian eyeliner, a gallon of kerosene, and three tons of Alaskan-bred, cage free salmon."

Everyone in the room whose eyebrows were still intact raised them as high as possible.

"Done," Jason said in an even tone, leaning back on his stool so his back touched the hull.

"One thing," Michael Yew said and elbowed himself into the discussion. "It has to be badass."

Percy led Hazel and Frank to the front of the small army that was gathering by the Little Tiber and navigated his way to the front of the crowd, both of his arms still around his friends' shoulders.

"You're going to love the Greeks," Percy grinned and extricated his arms from their necks as he took his place next to Reyna and Octavian, who was absentmindedly drumming the pads of his fingers on the pommel of his dagger, ready to react should anyone approach him with anything more threatening than a dragonfly. "They're some of the nicest people I've ever met. Really." At that statement, Octavian shot Percy a glare.

"Octavian, Reyna," Percy nodded to each of them and folded his hands behind his back.

"Praetor," Octavian and Reyna both replied in turn as they all focused their attention on the approaching warship.

"So your girlfriend's up there?" Hazel squinted and looked up, shielding her eyes with her left hand from the high-noon sun.

"Hopefully," Percy said, his green eyes small as slits as he attempted to scan the deck of the ship, but the glare off the golden hull was too bright.

As the ship touched down on the soft grass closest to the denizens of Camp Jupiter, the shiny hull of the massive warship opened and the Greeks emerged.

It was pandemonium in the hull of Argo II. Campers rushed to get in their places as Leo called out "Moon landing in 5, everyone! Let's make this entrance count, people!" He clapped his hands once and moved to round the corner.

Thalia, who was positioned behind the flag bearers with three of her fellow hunters, snorted. "What are you, a pageant mom?" She asked Leo.

"Just excited," he replied as he dashed back to the control room to land the ship.

"Okay," he sighed as he sat in his chair and surveyed the controls in front of him. "Hull is opening!" He yelled down the corridor and turned to take his place in line. On his way he clapped a hand on Jason's shoulder. "You ready?"

Jason gripped the flag of Zeus. "As ready as I'll ever be."

Leo nodded and walked away, shooting a wink at Piper, who promptly rolled her eyes. "That boy just doesn't quit," she laughed.

Jason thought back to the meeting they had earlier in a very different section of Argo II.

"I can't be central," Jason told the twins as they poured over a draft of the processions. "This can't be all about me. Besides, there's no one to represent Zeus since Thalia is doing her hunter thing. Let me be Zeus's flag bearer."

"Man," Leo shook his head. "You're giving up one killer entrance." He pointed to a section of the paper. "If you're a flag holder person thing, you can't even talk or smile or smite someone!"

Jason gave a wan smile. "But this isn't all about me. It's about the Greek camp uniting with the Roman camp, not the Romans getting their praetor back."

Conner shrugged. "If you say so..." He looked at Travis and put a finger to his chin in thought. "Now what are we going to do with all that kerosene and salmon?"

Jason heard a creak as the gangplank descended completely.

"Showtime," he said and smiled at Piper, who smiled back as he took her hand in his.

"Showtime," she replied.

The hull opened Noah's Ark style, a satyr trotting out to one side of the gangplank. He blew three even notes from his pan flute and from the depths of the ship came a steady drum beat as flags representing each cabin in Camp Half-Blood descended the gangplank in synchronized steps, the campers either a picture of some serious badassery or the picture of someone trying to emulate some serious badassery, but didn't quite know what it meant. They split as they reached the grass, one flag going right and the other left until they reached a respectable distance in order for all the flags to stand in a line.

Percy began to recognize other campers he knew as they came out two-by-two. Travis held the Hermes flag, while Conner stood in for Percy with the Poseidon cabin's flag. Katie Gardner represented Demeter with Pollox as her partner, representing Dionysus as his last demigod child. Annabeth was still nowhere to be found.

A gasp rippled through the crowd as the bearer of Zeus's flag stepped into the sunlight, his hand returning to the flagpole, as it was previously entangled with the bearer of Aphrodite's flag.

All of the flags ended in a line, still facing opposite until a beat past, then they pivoted front and thrust their flags into the ground, one hand holding the pole to the left, the other behind their back. At that moment several things happened. The drum beat came to a head, the flags all blew true, the sun blazed brighter, and the campers let out a type of military-esque cheer or call.

But it was only for a second, and before the Roman campers knew it, the satyr was sounding a horn he had produced from a small leather bag.

"I present to you," he called to the Romans, "the immortal maidens, protectors of the moon and the animals of the forest, the Hunters of Artemis."

Thalia and three other hunters descended, knees bent and bow drawn, in full silver regalia. Thalia's hair was longer, tied carefully in an intricate braid, her silver circlet glinting in the sun as she walked towards the Romans. She slowly moved the notched arrow from left to right and back again, increasingly suspicious of a Roman attack. They took their place in front of Apollo's flag and one girl shot an arrow towards the sky. Mid-air it transformed into a glimmering pennant, barely visible in the sunlight, but it sure did draw a reaction from the crowd akin to the oohs and ahhs of a television studio or a magic show.

The satyr blew his horn again. "The captain of Argo II, tamer of the golden dragon, fire user, and son of Hephaestus, Leo Valdez."

A tanned teenage boy shielded his eyes from the sunlight as he practically jogged down the path, injecting so much swagger into his step he might have fallen off if he wasn't looking where he was going. He winked at a few choice girls in the crowd and waved with two fingers like some kind of celebrity. As his feet touched the grass he clicked his finger, producing a small flame, then another and another until his whole hand was on fire. Then, before any of the other Greek campers could pull him away, he blew the fire right over the crowd.

The Greeks looked equally as shocked as the Romans and the flag bearers of Zeus and Aphrodite pulled him away from center stage, the blonde boy slapping him over the head, but Leo escaped and ran to his place in front of Hephaestus's flag, bowing and blowing kisses to the crowd.

"Idiot," Piper muttered and reached out to doff him again, eliciting some snickers from the crowd.

"Frank," Hazel hissed and grabbed at his hand. "That's Sammy!" Her eyes were wide when Frank took his gaze off the Greeks.

"That's impossible," Frank replied and rubbed the top of her hand. "You know that. Let's just watch the show and ask him later," Frank did a low whistle and looked back at the satyr, who was blowing his horn again. "Besides, these Greeks are... Something else."

"The Oracle of Delphi and attendants!"

Percy snickered because he knew that Rachel didn't even have attendants. It looked to be like her entrance was the product of the Aphrodite cabin. Two girls done up in Greek servant dressed carried the train of Rachel's own empirical dress, one that made her look like Helen of Troy or some Egyptian princess of the Nile. She looked royal, and completely terrified next to the hunters in front of Apollo's flag.

Reyna shot Percy a look and he cleared his throat, staring forwards with a lingering smile.

The horn sounded again, but longer and more elaborate. The satyr puffed out his chest and proclaimed in a proud voice, "Member of the Council of Cloven Elders, protector of young demi-gods, and savior of the wild, his Lordship Grover Underwood!"

Grover trotted out and bleated in surprise at the crowd. "Silenus, stop it," he muttered to the satyr, his eyes as large as dinner plates.

The Romans stood in awe at the heir to Pan, and then Reyna kneeled, pulling down Percy with her when he just shot Grover a thumbs up and a conspiratorial wink.

"That's the Lord of the Wild," Reyna jerked him into a kneeling position. "Show him some respect."

"No, that's my best friend," Percy's eyes twinkled when he said that. It had been too long. "And he hates stuff like this."

Reyna grumbled and stood as Grover passed them and the horn sounded once more, but it was back to the short toot for the demigods.

Could this be her? Percy couldn't afford to be hopeful, but his stomach fluttered in anticipation as the satyr began to list a string of titles.

"Hero of Olympus, retriever of Zeus's lightning bolt, defeater of Kronus, grand architect of the godly realm, holder of Daedalus's scrolls, savior of the camp's borders, daughter of Athena, and leader of Camp Half Blood, Annabeth Chase!"

His heart stopped cold in his chest, he couldn't breathe, he seemed to have his essence being drawn to the shine of her golden hair, the curl of that perfect smirk, the spark in those thunderhead eyes.

And she was also riveted by him. Annabeth gasped, stepping back a pace as Percy's face was the first one that she picked out in the crowd. As soon as her senses caught up with her, she rushed forward, trundling down the gangplank steps as fast as she could without tripping.

He was there, he was alive, and she had finally found him. Then her feet were leaving the ground, running like she had never run before and never will again. In the blink of an eye she was in Percy's arms being swung around like a tilt-a-whirl. Her hands gripped his neck with affectionate ferocity, his arms wrapped around her waist with the same strength, twirling like teacups. They laughed for all they were worth, foreheads pressed together like Siamese twins.

"Don't you everleave me again," Annabeth pulled Percy closer on 'ever,' her mouth set in a wide smile.

They stopped spinning and Percy put her down on the soft grass of the Field of Mars, his hands remaining on her waist, her hands on his neck. "I wouldn't dream of it," he said simply and pulled her in for a kiss, one that put all other kisses to shame.

"Huaaah!" The assembled Greeks sent up a cheer, raising their flags and miscellaneous weapons with joy as their camp was finally united.

Percy punched his fist into the sky, his lips smiling against Annabeth's as he gained another cheer from the Greeks and an awkward silence from the Romans who really didn't enjoy seeing their praetor canoodling with the enemy.

They pulled away from each other, breathing heavily.

"You look weird in purple," Annabeth said, looking into his eyes.

Percy laughed. "And you look perfect in orange. C'mon," he slung one arm over her shoulder and she mover hers to his hips. "Let's go to Rome."

Yay! Percy and Annabeth are reunited! It took me forever to think up this scene because I wanted it to be so elaborate. I think if the reunion scene in the real book is just all blah I'll throw it against a wall. Oh well, Rick Riordan is a boy after all, even if he is awfully good at giving us a steady stream of Percabeth.

Stay tuned for more installments!

-Acca