ꜱᴘɪᴅᴇʀ ʙɪᴛᴇꜱ: ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀᴄᴀʙᴇᴛʜ/ꜱᴏʟᴀɴɢᴇʟᴏ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛ

xx ᴀɴɴᴀʙᴇᴛʜ | ᴀɴɴᴀʙᴇᴛʜ ʜɪᴛꜱ ᴀ ɴᴇᴡ ʟᴏᴡ

Annabeth steps outside. Next to her is the smoking area, where some of the restaurant workers take their break. She knows the feeling. You get a quick break, and all you want to do is get the hell out of there, even if you're being bombarded with second-hand smoke.

She feels lucky that she gets to wear shorts and a tank top to work. It's an inherently sexist uniform, but at least it's not slacks and a long-sleeved dress shirt in the middle of summer.

The temptation to lean against the dumpster is strong, but Will's likely to kill her if she ruins this dress.

Dammit.

The yellow text on the dumpster is blurring. She's feverish and she has goosebumps like she's hot and cold all at the same time. She's hyperventilating. This is bad; this is really bad. Hyperventilating outside an Olive Garden has to be a new low for Annabeth.

"Pull yourself together," she scolds herself.

One of the workers starts walking towards her. Shit. Now she's made a scene, and she's going to have to tell this guy that she's perfectly fine, she's just... waiting for a ride. Yeah, her girlfriend is coming to pick her up. Or maybe her boyfriend is. Yeah, her super straight, surfer boyfriend.

"Annabeth Chase," the worker hisses.

It's an amphisbaena wearing an Olive Garden uniform and an orange wig.

"Oh, fuck me!" Annabeth swears.

"Maybe later!" shouts Reyna. She sways like a balloon animal as she draws her spear.

Annabeth appreciates a tag team, but what the hell?

"Should you really be fighting right now?" asks Annabeth as she takes her chopsticks from her hair.

"I'm good! Seeing a two-headed snake in a wig can be very sobering! My offer still stands though!" Reyna throws her spear towards the monster's back, but it evades the attack, and the spear falls into the dumpster.

"Well, shit," Reyna curses.

Annabeth begins to expertly swipe at the monster, scales flying with each impact. She grabs one head in her fist and sticks both chopsticks in its eye.

The amphisbaena hisses in pain.

Annabeth attacks from behind, squeezing its necks in the crooks of each elbow. Eventually, she strangles it, and the body falls to the ground. Once again, there is a corpse to dispose of.

"I got my spear back!" Reyna shouts from the dumpster. "Oh, I missed the fun. Why's there a body? Are you sure it's dead?"

Annabeth explains what happened when she killed the Minotaur, and how its corpse didn't disintegrate and go straight to Tartarus as it should've.

"Hmm," Reyna wonders aloud. "Maybe we could take it back to New Rome?"

"The others will kill us if we bring this thing in the car," Annabeth says.

"Right." The girls look towards the dumpster as if simultaneously having the same idea.

Annabeth retrieves her chopsticks from the monster's eyes and wipes them on her dress as Reyna grabs one of the heads and starts to pull. It looks heavy, so Annabeth sticks her chopsticks in her mouth and starts pulling from the other head. She can fix her hair later.

"So, those were in something's eye, and now they're just in your mouth? That's... that's gross. Maybe we won't be making out tonight," Reyna says.

"That was never the plan," Annabeth says, although she's sure Reyna can't understand.
Reyna leaps into the dumpster. "Pass me a head. I can pull it up," she says.