Thunder and Blood

21

Annabeth

This would be so much easier if we had phones. 

One call and I could find him. One call and we could be together once more. 

I'm walking down the street, my backpack is beginning to get heavy, despite how little is in it. My shoulders are killing me, my feet hurt, and I have a massive headache. I'm not one to complain, but Gods, let this be over already. I just want to get my boyfriend and go home. 

I kick a pebble, watching it bounce along the road. I slowly catch up to it, kicking it again. This time it goes further, I have to walk longer to reach it. Who knew this little game could be so... entertaining. I'm too busy kicking at this small stone that I almost don't hear a horse whinnying in the distance. 

Wait. 

A horse?

I look up, momentarily forgetting the pebble. 

"Blackjack!" I yell, looking around, then glancing up at the sky. "Blackjack!"

I hear the familiar clopping of hooves, and then to my relief, a black pegasus rounds the corner, trotting towards me. "Blackjack!" I exclaim, running towards him. "Where's Percy? Is he okay?" I ask, stroking in between the horse's eyes. He snorts, with almost as much sass as Percy. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry. How are you, Blackjack?" He whinnies again, I get the gist of what he's trying to say: he's kind of annoyed but he's alright. Gosh, I wish I could understand him. "Take me to Percy." I urge, taking a fistfull of his mane to pull myself onto his back. "Please, take me to Percy." I whisper, bracing myself as he takes off into the sky. 

I didn't realize how big Beacon Hills was until I found myself looking at it from above. We soare high over the buildings, flying towards Percy, wherever he is. I just want to get him home, I can't even begin imagine what I'm going to say to Chiron. Sending Percy away like this? It isn't right. He knows that I wouldn't have told anyone, I wouldn't have come after Percy like this if I knew where he was in the first place. 

After a few minutes in the air, Blackjack begins to descend. He dives down towards a house, with green siding and white pillars. There are a few cars in the driveway, but not many. Blackjack lands on the grass, I slide off his back, tossing one of my apples in his direction before running to the front door. I slow before going up the front steps, not wanting to announce my presence. I put my ear to the door, hearing voices inside. 

"We couldn't find either of them." Someone, a boy, says. "It was like we were in a maze, every decision we made lead us farther away from him."

Who? What are they talking about?

"It's a game." I hear another boy say. And my heart skips a beat. Percy. My Percy. "He's making you play his game. But the problem is, Scott, that you don't even know what game it is."

I want to barge in and hug Percy, but I stop myself. He sounds different, stressed. Who could be in there that is stressing him out this much? He's to the point where he sounds... scared. 

I hear him speak again. "If you want to save your friend, then you have to win the game." I pull away from the door, quietly moving over to one of the windows. I peek into the room, looking through the crack in the drawn curtains. There are 7 people in the room: a boy on the couch, his mouth covered with a strip of black tape, then there are two girls, a redhead that looks around my age, and another a little older. I see Percy, talking to a teenage boy with dark hair and an uneven jawline, and then two other men are listening to them, both about my father's age. 

They all keep glancing at the boy on the couch, as if expecting him to get up and attack them. 

One of the men look my direction, I quickly duck out of the way, desperately hoping he didn't see me. 

Boy, was I wrong.

I barely have any time to react as a hand grabs my wrist, pulling me inside with an iron grip. I try to fight back, but whoever it is won't budge. I scramble to find my knife, but before I can pull it out of my bag, they throw me on the floor, hard. I feel something trickle down my face. The wind is knocked out of me, I roll onto my back, gasping. 

"Who are you?" The man with blue eyes asks sternly. It takes me a second to push myself off the ground, wiping my bleeding nose with the back of my hand. 

I look at him, then to Percy. 

"I asked you a question." He says.

"That's none of your business." I glance at Percy again, the man catches this.

"You know her?" He turns to Percy, eyebrows raised. 

Percy stares at me, looking my up and down with a blank expression on his face. "No." He says. "I don't."