Unexpectedly Expecting (Previously Known As Unexpected)

22 - Percy

I slowly came back to consciousness. What happened? One moment I was happy, with my friends and my girlfriend, and the next I...

Where was I?

I looked around. I was in the woods somewhere, snow surrounding me, soaking into my clothes. I was freezing, despite the fact that I was wearing my jacket. Where was everyone else?

I got up and looked around for a while, calling out their names with no responses but my echo. I had to find Grover, Sherman, Will, Annabeth.

Oh gods. Annabeth.

I had to find her most of all. She could be hurt, or in labor, or freezing in a ditch somewhere. I had to find her.

I ran and ran and ran, jumping over logs and sticks and rocks, calling everybody's name. I didn't even know where I was. How was I supposed to find everyone else?

Eventually, I called out, "Grover! Will! Anybody! Is there anybody out there?"

A minute later, I heard a response. "Percy! Over here!"

Sherman.

I ran in the direction of the voice. I was freezing, and the wind wasn't exactly helping, but I had to keep going. He could be with Annabeth, or he could be hurt.

I found him sitting by a stream, Will collaped on the ground by him, still unconscious.

"Is he okay?" I asked, kneeling on the ground beside him.

"I don't know, man," he sounded panicked. "I just found him like this."

His chest was rising and falling, so he was breathing, I knew that much. I put my fingers on the side of his neck. I could feel his pulse, so he was alive.

I covered his gloveless hand in snow hoping it wouldn't give him frostbite and used my powers to heal him. His lips returned to normal color and his eyes shot open as he shot up, gasping for breath.

"What happened?" He asked. He was hysterical. "Where are we?"

"We got no idea," I told him. "No buildings. No landmarks. No powerlines. Nothing."

He sighed. "Where's everyone else?"

"That's what we wanna know," Sherman said. "We all showed up in different places. It took me and Percy 15 minutes to find each other."

Will sighed. "Well, that's fantastic. We'd better start searching."

We helped Will off the ground and began our search. We split up, staying within yelling distance, calling for everyone else. I was primarily focused on finding Annabeth, but I needed to find everyone else, too.

We found Grover first. He and Nico had found each other about 45 minutes ago and they had been looking for us. They said they'd sworn they'd heard footsteps in the other direction, but weren't sure, then they'd heard us yelling.

"I'm freezing," I complained.

"Dude," Will said, "You're surrounded by frozen water. That's, like, your element."

"That doesn't mean I'm not freezing!"

"Guys," Nico said, "I hear footsteps again."

I listened closely, and after a minute, I heard them too, the crunching in the snow, the occasional break of a stick. "Hello?" I called out. "Anybody out there?"

"Percy?" Travis, Katie, Rachel, and Lee appeared in the scenery, Rachel bundled up in Lee's jacket. Her hair was wet, and her lips were a horrible shade of blue.

"Oh my gods," I said upon seeing her. "Rachel, are you okay?"

"We found her in a creek about 3 miles north. We suspect she has frostbite."

I stepped towards her, placing a hand on her shoulder. Her skin was so cold I could feel it through my glove. I made her body absorb the water on her skin, hair, and clothes, decreasing the effects of the frostbite. If we found somewhere warm soon, it should be gone within hours. If not...

I didn't really want to think about it.

"Is anybody else hurt?" I asked.

Nobody spoke up.

"Who are we missing?"

"Annabeth, Piper, Malcolm, Frank, Leo, Reyna, and Shel."

My heart stopped at the mention of Annabeth. Everybody must have seen it on my face because they looked at me with concern.

"We'll find her, Perc," Katie reassured me. "She can't be far."

I nodded. "We need to find everybody else, too. If we find them maybe we'll find her."

"Hello?" A voice rang out, almost as if on cue. "Will? Lee? Percy? Is that you guys?"

"Piper?" I yelled back, hope filling my chest. "Is that you?"

"Percy! Come quick!"

"Why? What's going on?"

"It's Annabeth." For the first time, I could hear the fear in her voice. "I think something's wrong."