Heroes with Wands

Chapter 24

Annabeth

I awoke surrounded by the rest of the seven on beds in the hospital wing. A cup sat by each of us. I sat up, and said, "Ow." My hand reached for my head, a pounding headache interuppting my thoughts.

Picking up the plastic cup, I sniffed it and jerked back. Mushrooms and Gatorage. Hedge must've insisted. Ambrosia and nectar were also beside us. I laid back down and closed my eyes.

We'd really done it. We'd really scared off Gaea. I never thought we could. Each of us seven always thought that when everyone would say, 'the power of the prophecy' or, 'the power of the seven' they just meant us working together.

But it was so much more. We had real power when we worked together. Power we didn't even know existed. We didn't even know we had.

I'd guessed we slowed down Gaea-of course we didn't stop her, but we managed to slow her down. Maybe even put her to sleep a while longer, like what Piper did when rescuing Hera.

Yesterday-at least, I thought it was yesterday-we skipped school. All of us. I'd assumed the wizards knew we were keeping something from them, but this stuff was personal.

And bringing up Luke's death, or Bianca's, or Zoe's, or anyone's, didn't help at all, because deep down, I knew it was my fault.

Luke wouldn't have helped Kronos rise, he wouldn't have died if maybe I'd talked to him out of it, if I'd reasoned with him. Bianca could've stayed at camp instead of wanting to help Percy find me. Zoe didn't have to push me far from Atlas' reach and battle him herself.

I didn't want to talk about that. Especially not in front of people we met a month ago.

All day, we rewrote the prophecies and their meanings. Every one. The Quest for Zeus's Lightning Bolt, the Sea of Monsters, Daedalus'-every single one.

We sat around the table in the dining hall, with the images of Camp Half-blood flashing around us, barely ever stopping to eat or drink or use the bathroom. We didn't sleep the night before.

"Battle of the Labyrinth," Hazel said at one point. "You shall delve in the darkness of the endless maze. Annabeth. You have to go through some odd place to find the statue. Could it be like a maze?"

"It could," I'd said simply. "But what about, The dead, the traitor, and the lost one raise. Nico raised the dead, Ethan Nakumura is dead, and Pan can't be reincarnated."

"I could summon the dead again," Nico spoke from the darkness, making us all jump. He was dead creepy. "The traitor could be that kid we have to find. The lost one....who's lost?"

"Athena," I guessed. "The Athena Parthenos. You shall rise or fall by the ghost king's hand. Nico's the ghost king. I guess he could help in some way that could help us..or not."

"The Child of Athena's final stand." Percy closed his eyes and mumbled the line. "That's Annabeth. By final stand, it probably means final chance to retrieve the statue."

"Why would she be the last child of Athena to search for the statue?" asked Jason. "She's, no offense, not that almighty compared to some children of Athena, like George Washington and Daedalus."

"None taken." I tapped my fingers against the table. "Jason's right. Why would it be me? What have I done? Or, what will I do? Maybe it's Gaea. After she rises, nobody's going to be searching."

"Destroy with a hero's final breath," Piper read from Hazel's paper. "I don't know, Annabeth. Maybe you do something in the place the statue's hidden that either saves it or destroys it. That's probably what both the lines mean."