Oh god , I was having sex dreams about her nephew . How much more embarrassed could I be ?

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."

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.

I had never expected to fall in love , but then , I never imagined anyone like Jess . She was one beautiful contradiction . The idea of letting someone else own my heart wasn't appealing . It sounded weak and foolish . Something meant for the words of a song . I was wrong . When I thought about my future now , Jess was all that I could see , and that was all I needed . I couldn't ask for more .

"The cover designerof my book, Annie's Story, operates from Canada, and to my great delight he sourced a photograph of the Orsova – the very ship my own grandparents sailed on when they emigrated to Australia in 1913. Incredibly, he chose the perfect girl to represent Annie; a face capturing Annie’s essence and looking exactly as I imagined her."

Under Cover of Midnight: A Midnight Ink Blog: Celebrating Women's History Month -

Number 4: Serie-ous Wo...:

Here at Midnight Ink Headquarters, we find that the best way to celebrate Women's History Month is to talk to our authors...